Cornell argues that the current debate between those seeing either an individual or a collective right in the Second Amendment are missing the real intention of the framers—to protect a "civic" right to "keep and bear arms." His readable and authoritative review of the amendment's history adds an interesting and balanced new approach to the old debate.

Spitzer advances the collective right interpretation of the Second Amendment in this solid exploration of the constitutional question and American gun culture.

Malcolm traces American ideas about gun rights and liberty into seventeenth-century England in arguing that the framers of the Second Amendment intended to guarantee an individual right to keep and bear arms.

Raymond's account of Heston's evolution from 60s liberal to 90s neoconservative has drawn criticism from conservatives. But her account of Heston's interest in, and use by, the guns rights movement is provocative.