Still a Hollow Hope: State Power and the Second Amendment

The U.S. Supreme Court increasingly matters in American political life when those across the political spectrum look at the Court for relief from policies they oppose and as another venue for advancing their own policy agendas. However, the evidence is mounting, to include this book in a big way, that courts are more of a sideshow to the culture war. While court decisions, especially Supreme Court decisions, do have importance, the decisions emanating from the Court reflect social, cultural, and political change that occurred long prior to their decision ever being made. This book tests how much political and social change has been made primarily through Gerald Rosenberg’s framework from his seminal work, The Hollow Hope: Can Courts Bring About Social Change, but it also utilizes Daniel Elazar’s Political Culture Theory to explain state level variations in political and social change. The findings indicate that while courts are not powerless institutions, reformers will not have success unless supported by the public and the elected branches, and most specifically, that preexisting state culture is a determining factor in the amount of change courts make. In short, federalism still matters.

Table of Contents:
List of Tables List of Figures List of Appendices Introduction PART I: THEORY 1. Literature Review and Theory The Impact of Rosenberg’s The Hollow Hope Rosenburg’s Theory as a Set of Testable Hypotheses Elazar’s Political Culture Theory 2. Research Design and Methods Rosenburg’s Methodology Nationwide Statistical Analysis Descriptive Statistics Regression Case Study Choice PART II: TESTS AND ANALYSES 3. Testing of the Dynamic and Constrained Court Theories Court Action Was there Ample Legal Precedent Prior to Heller and McDonald as Per the Constrained Court Theory? 4. Support from the Legislature and the Executive Presidential Support a Must for the Constrained Court Theory Controlling the Courts: The End of the Gun Tort Litigation and the Appointment Process Brings the Courts in Line Discussion: Road to Heller and McDonald Hypothesis H2 is Supported 5. Public Support Public Support Through Firearm Ownership and Use Hypothesis H3 is Supported 6. Incentives and Market Forces Market Forces Taxing Power Insurance Requirements More Guns Than People Internet Facilitated Commerce Threats to the Market: De-Platforming and Corporate Gun Control Capitalism is About Profit AND Loss 7. Resistance of Washington, D.C. To Court Orders Backlash 8. Conclusion on the National Level Testing of the Constrained Court Theory PART III: CASE STUDIES 9. Illinois – A State Of Conflict Political Culture Histography and Federalism Illinois Settlement Patterns Opinion Divide Between Political Culture Types in Illinois Chicago and Downstate Divide on Guns Sanctuary Counties and Municipalities Testing the Dynamic and Constrained Court Theories in Illinois Incorporation Implementation of McDonald in Illinois Not Backlash, per se, but Resistance to Change Conclusion on Illinois 10. “Come And Get Them!” – Texas and Guns Texas’ History Leads to Support for the Second Amendment Origins of Texas Texas Gun Culture and Pre-and Post-Revolution Texans’ Armed Society: Citizen Militias and Honor Culture Texas’ Hierarchical Structure Texas into the Union, the Civil War, and Reconstruction Reconstruction End of Reconstruction Closing the Frontier Texas and the Right to Keep and Bear Arms in the 20th Century and Beyond Modern Texas and Gun Rights Testing the Constrained Court and Dynamic Court Theories in Texas Conclusion on Texas 11. California and the Future of Gun Control, Vanguard or Rearguard Action? Spanish California From Mexican California to American California California from the Civil War until the 20th Century The Tinseltown Dream Factory and Guns Hollywood’s Schizophrenic Relationship with Guns California’s Demographic Transformation California as a Bellwether Testing the Dynamic and Constrained Court Theories in California Conclusion on California PART IV: STILL A HOLLOW HOPE 12. Cultural Variation Matters Looking Ahead 13. Final Thoughts Appendix A. Timeline Appendix B. State Political Culture and Brady Score Index Appendix C. Brady Gun Control Scoring Methodology Bibliography

About the Author :
Anthony D. Cooling is a Budget and Revenue Officer.

Review :
“Building on Rosenberg’s Hollow Hope and Elazar’s measures of political culture, Cooling explores the effect of the Supreme Court’s Heller and McDonald decisions on the level of gun ownership. Combining nationwide quantitative data with three qualitative state studies, Cooling presents a nuanced, detailed, and comprehensive examination of how states responded to the Court. The provocative and counterintuitive findings may surprise the reader.” —Gerald N. Rosenberg, author of The Hollow Hope (3rd Edition forthcoming Spring 2023) “This book is a careful and convincing application, elaboration, and extension of Gerald Rosenberg’s original theory of the limited capacity of the Supreme Court to effect significant change. Here too, the author finds that the Court does little more than reflect with shifting political cultures. It is a must read for anyone interested in political change and the Supreme Court. A stunning achievement.” —Malcolm Feeley, Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program, School of Law, UC Berkeley