Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents: Acknowledgments - 1. The Gun Policy Fork in the Road - 2. Assault Weapons and Ammunition Magazines - 3. The Sound of Silencers - 4. Weapons Brandishing and Display - 5. Second Amendment Sanctuaries: Coloring Outside the Lines of Federalism - 6. Conclusion: Navigating the Gun Fork in the Road - About the Author - Notes - Index

Contemporary gun controversies are deeply rooted in our history, yet much of that history is unknown, ignored, or distorted. This is all the more important because a new gun rights movement is pressing to expand the definition of gun rights well beyond the standard set by the Supreme Court in its landmark, controversial Heller ruling from 2008. This "gun rights 2.0" movement has spread to a series of contemporary gun controversies. Their efforts have found a receptive audience among a new generation of very conservative federal judges cultivated in part for their professed adherence to the doctrine of constitutional Originalism and fealty to an expansive reading of gun rights. Drawing on new information sources, this book examines those gun controversies in the light of our gun history and contemporary policy environment, covering gun policy areas including assault weapons, ammunition magazines, silencers, public gun brandishing and display, and the emergent Second Amendment sanctuary movement. Revealing and illuminating as that history is, the author argues that we should not be straitjacketed by that history, but rather informed by it as the nation struggles with how to frame its gun policies.