Waldman concludes his book inadvertently revealing the dilemma of the modern gun controller, whether scholar, activist, or politician. He praises those courts who “prudently intervene on behalf of those who need their protection, and who cannot get it through the normal political processes,” who in so doing “immeasurably strengthen the country.”

The irony escapes him that that’s exactly how Dick Heller and Otis McDonald saw their struggle, and their victory—and that most Americans agree. While their self-image doesn’t permit them to see it, Waldman and the politicians and activists fighting a rearguard action against the salutary progress in our understanding of rights represented by Heller are roadblocks to justice. Reactionaries of that ilk, one hopes, will fade sooner than later into our nation’s dark past.