It is a timely, revealing book — to be released just as the 2016 election season peaks, and races to a conclusion. “Shall Not Be Infringed: The New Assaults on Your Second Amendment,” by David A. Keene and Thomas L. Mason, will be published October 11. The authors offer a meticulous review of the gun control debate in America, and an insider’s look at strategic operatives who use polls, studies and numbers to confuse the public and muddle facts.
“The battle over the Second Amendment right of Americans to ‘keep and bear arms’ has been a central part of the political debate in this country since the late sixties with those blaming the availability of various kinds of firearms for crime, mass killings and much else lining up against those who believe strongly that the constitution protects the age old right of people to defend themselves, their families and their homes in an increasingly dangerous world,” said Mr. Keene, the opinion editor of The Washington Times and former president of the National Rifle Association.
“We wanted to tell the story of how gun owners have successfully fought to preserve their rights in the face of a well financed and unrelenting assault that may well decide the 2016 presidential election,” Mr. Keene said.
There’s some legislative and academic backbone at work. Co-author Thomas Mason is an attorney, a former state lawmaker and an associate professor of administration of justice at Portland State University in Oregon. The book offers a substantial story of skirmishes and all-out warfare over the Second Amendment in courts, Congress, and state legislatures — and the role of a hostile news media during the crossfire.
“We chose this time to let people know how important these rights are, to dispel the myths about guns and crime that dominate the media and to suggest that if people would stop yelling there are steps that can be taken to make our streets and cities safer without infringing on the constitutional rights of law-abiding Americans,” Mr. Keene continues.
“The simple fact is that the Second Amendment and the rights it protects are on the ballot this year,” he added. “We argue that for the first time the gloves are off as Hillary Clinton argues that the Supreme Court was wrong in deciding that Americans have an individual right to own a gun for protection and that Great Britain and Australia, two nation’s that have outlawed and confiscated most privately owned firearms within their borders are models we should both admire and follow.”
From Skyhorse Publishing, the book will be available as a hardcover or e-book on Oct. 11. It is already picking up some high-profile fans.
“If you’re wondering whether this year’s candidates support or oppose your Second Amendment rights, this book is a book you’ll want to read,” noted former Vice President Dick Cheney, in brief review.
Oliver North, retired Marine officer and fellow author, said Mr. Keene and Mr. Mason “have broken the code on the gun-grabbers’ plot to make out Constitution’s Second Amendment ‘irrelevant.’ For all who want to protect our precious civil liberties, this book is a mandatory must-read.”
