The "Triple-Decker Hoax" of the Second Amendment
On the Media | Jun 17, 2016
The Orlando shootings have revived the intractable debate about guns in America, with Democratic lawmakers pushing legislation that expands background checks and prohibits people on FBI terror watchlists from purchasing firearms. But the biggest impediment to any kind of gun control is the Second Amendment. Yet, for most of American history, the law did not protect an individual's right to bear arms. Bob talks with Slate's Dahlia Lithwick about how the NRA and other interest groups essentially re-framed the meaning of the Second Amendment, cementing the notion that it protects individual gun ownership both in the public mind and in the landmark 2008 Supreme Court case, District of Columbia v. Heller.
