If you have read the Parker opinion (D.C. Court of Appeals decision in the case that became Heller) and the Heller opinion, then much of what you read is the excellent work of Stephen Halbrook. Much has been written about the scholarly work dedicated to the true meaning of the Second Amendment and how that work carried the day for us in Heller. I can tell you without reservation that what I call "The Big Three" authors of that work are Stephen Halbrook, David Kopel and David Hardy. These three men have had more impact on public and academic acceptance of the Second Amendment as an individual right than the vast majority of Americans know.
Stephen Halbrook is absolutely brilliant. Like me, he is an attorney but we could hardly be more different. I am a battle-scared trial attorney, a street-fighter in comparison to Stephen, the ultimate scholar, researcher, statesman and author. While I write battle plans, he is busy writing law review articles, books and presentations that have an outcome-determinative impact on U.S. Supreme Court Justices. (What really irritates me is that he too is a trial lawyer, but more of a James Bond to my Clint Eastwood.) As noted above, Stephen has written what I would describe as the definitive book on the origins and true meaning of the Second Amendment, The Founders’ Second Amendment: Origins of the Rights to Bear Arms.
The Second Amendment Book Bomb has been a huge success that has really turned some heads both in the "book selling" business and in the academic world. The Christmas season is the time when the #1 best sellers are usually a book written by Opra or perhaps a cookbook, not the definitive book on the origins of the Second Amendment. True, Stephen's book isn't #1 yet, but the Book Bomb brought it from about number 200,000 to number 140 in the overall ranking. About the time it reached that number, Amazon.com ran out of copies! There are 999 pledges to buy the book and Amazon.com has now been restocked. The Independent Institute and other Second Amendment supporters are asking people to mount a second surge and push The Founders’ Second Amendment: Origins of the Rights to Bear Arms to #1 on the Amazon.com list and elsewhere. Let's help these people launch constitutional rights to the top of national book bestseller lists in order to communicate the importance of the Bill of Rights’ Second Amendment for the protection of liberty.
Buy the book and read it, don't just leave it on the bookshelf. Buy the book for others and ask them to read it. I am proud to give Stephen and his latest book my personal endorsement.
Thank you Stephen for decades of work on the Second Amendment, for your work on Heller and for giving us a chance the have a book on the Second Amendment become a #1 best seller. What a tribute not only to you, but to all of us who have worked on this issue for so many years. And thank you David Theroux and your Independent Institute for your foresight on this issue and your years of support of Stephen's work. All of us who revere our Constitutional rights owe both of you gentlemen you a debt we can never repay.
Chas.
David Theroux wrote:The Second Amendment Book Bomb Hits #1 in Law, #12 in History, #26 in Nonfiction at Amazon.com!
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Beginning on America’s Bill of Rights Day (December 15), the Second Amendment Book Bomb was launched by the Independent Institute to communicate the importance of the Bill of Rights’ Second Amendment for the protection of liberty. With your help, constitutional rights are being pushed to the top of national book bestseller lists, making a loud and clear statement that Second Amendment rights are unalienable!
The Second Amendment Book Bomb follows directly on the heels of the truly historic victory on June 26, 2008 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the landmark case of District of Columbia v. Heller that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to own and bear arms. However, the Heller ruling was immediately attacked and efforts continue on the national level and across the country to undermine gun rights. (In this regard, President-elect Barack Obama's choice of Eric Holder for U.S. Attorney General is an ominous sign.) Therefore, to secure the Second Amendment now and for the future the American public must be made aware of the reasons why the Founders sought to protect this right.
And now we have the tool to do so -- the fascinating, seminal, and inspiring, the new book, The Founders’ Second Amendment: Origins of the Rights to Bear Arms, by Dr. Stephen P. Halbrook* -- the perfect way both to educate ourselves and to reach friends and family who don’t yet understand Second Amendment rights. The goal is to reach one million Americans with Dr. Halbrook’s book during the Christmas Holiday Season and throughout the New Year ahead.
As a result, we are closing in on reaching this goal and with your further help we can make Dr. Halbrook’s book #1 on the bestseller lists. In addition to buying a copy for yourself, please consider buying additional copies for family members, friends, associates at work, community leaders, schools, libraries, journalists, policymakers, and others to use in order to spread the ideas of the Second Amendment.
Already on Bill of Rights Day, The Founders’ Second Amendment skyrocketed to the following category rankings at Amazon.com:
#1: Law
#1: Civil Rights and Liberties
#1: Constitutions
#1: Constitutional Law
#1: Revolutionary and Founding History
#12: History
#11: Professional and Technical
#26: Nonfiction (all)
Hence, we are seeking your help now in producing a second surge to push the book to #1 overall at Amazon.com and elsewhere. Please go to the following website and pledge to buy at least one copy of the book, and then urge everyone you know to make their pledge ASAP:
http://www.secondamendmentbook.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
*Stephen P. Halbrook is a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute and author of The Founders’ Second Amendment: Origins of the Rights to Bear Arms. Having won three cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, he filed an Amici Curiae Brief in District of Columbia v. Heller on behalf of 55 members of the Senate, the Senate President, and 250 members of the House of Representatives.