Publishing Date May 14, 2024 (Press Release – PDF and link)
A New Book by Steven C. Markoff
Misfire: The Supreme Court, The Second Amendment, Our Right to Bear Arms
(Pre-order at Amazon.com – BN.com – Rare Bird)
Author Steven Markoff has had an interest in guns and the law since his teens. Regarding the law, he focused for many years on the 5–4 (or the occasional 4–3) U.S. Supreme Court decisions. Steven wondered why there would be such a split vote.
Given that all the justices are said to be accomplished attorneys, and that they all have presumably read and heard the same facts and law of a case, why did their conclusions differ? Steven thought, in theory, it should be so simple. The justices should just read the law, absorb the facts, listen to the oral arguments, and make the right decision.
That, of course, isn’t life, given laws and facts are often imprecise, if not in dispute, and that humans, with all our differences, are involved in the analysis and voting.
When Steven read the 5–4 2008 Heller decision (District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570), he didn’t understand how the evidence presented in the Court’s Opinion supported its finding that there was an individual right to arms in the home in the Second Amendment.
After discussing the case with his friend, a federal judge, the judge challenged Steven, a layman, to dig into the Heller Opinion and see what his concerns were with it.
Steven accepted that challenge and, after digging into the Heller Opinion and Colonial and founding-era American documents for nine years, produced Misfire: The Supreme Court, The Second Amendment, Our Right to Bear Arms. The book is only 120 pages, accompanied by 340 pages of appendices. Those appendices include original texts of Colonial and founding-era documents, brief summaries of over 1,000 Colonial and founding-era arms and related laws, and a listing of the Heller amici, including a brief penned by three linguists.
Some reviews that open a window into Misfire:
Darren G. Smith, attorney – “Misfire is a compelling read and includes an interesting amicus brief filed by linguists. This is a book that should be on every Justice’s desk when the next gun case comes around.”
California State Assemblyman Mike Gatto (ret.) – “‘Misfire’ is an exhaustive examination of the historical sources contemporaneous with the Second Amendment’s passage. No matter how much you think you know about the Second Amendment, you’re guaranteed to learn something from this well-researched book.”
Robert V. Madden, attorney at law – “In ‘Misfire,’ Steven Markoff and his research team take the reader on a fascinating in-depth journey through a mosaic of colonial laws and regulations in order to construct the true underlying historical foundation upon which the 2nd Amendment was birthed and then apply and contrast this milieu with that espoused in Heller–all with surprising results.”
Rare Bird is the publisher of Misfire and two other books by Steven Markoff:
– The Case Against George W. Bush (Click here)
– The ACLU Handbook – The First 100 Years of the ACLU: A Compendium of Advocacy Before the United States Supreme Court (Click here)
