the law of the land. for the first time since that 2008 case, and another case in 2010, the supreme court is deciding whether that second amendment gives you the right to carry a weapon around and believe it or not, it s a case about new york. justice alito actually asked the question of the lawyer saying, well, everybody on the subway in new york is armed. so, why shouldn t, quote, law-abiding people also go on the subway armed? well, first of all, it isn t true that everyone s armed. the subways are very safe but that is a recipe for violence and for racialized violence. now, it s been a busy week in the world of criminal justice. on thursday, the governor of oklahoma commuted the death sentence of julius jones. instead, sentencing him to life without the possibility of parole. for a crime that jones insists he did not commit. and if jones s advocates
i have ever seen in my lifetime. i just look at those words there are only three lines to that amendment. a well-regulated militia. if the militia, which was going to be the state earner, was going to be well regulated, why shouldn t 16 and 17 and 18 or any other age persons be regulated in the u.s. of arms? welcome back. that was former-chief justice warren berger to pbs news hour 30 years ago. but even given the events of this week, his perspective on the second amendment could not be been more prescient. joining me now is michael waldman, president of the brennen center for justice and author of several books, including the second amendment a biography. thank you for joining us this evening. let s start with the second amendment.
and made it the group s mission to protect every citizen s right, supposedly enshrined in the second amendment to keep and bear arms. this caused former chief justice of the u.s. supreme court warren berger, a conservative jurist, appointed by richard nixon, to say the following on pbs in 1991. this has been the subject of one of the greatest pieces of fraud i repeat the word fraud on the american public by special interest groups that i have ever seen in my lifetime. so what to make of the second amendment and what to do about it? joining me now is michael waldman, the president of the brennan center for justice at nyu and the author of the second amendment: a biography. and jeffrey toobin, staff writer for the new yorker and chief legal analyst here at cnn. michael, so when warren berger says that, he was, in a sense, expressing the view of the long continuity of american law, which had felt that the second
amendment to keep and bear arms. this caused former chief justice of the u.s. supreme court warren berger, a conservative jurist, appointed by richard nixon, to say the following on pbs in 1991. this has been the subject of one of the greatest pieces of fraud i repeat the word fraud on the american public by special interest groups that i have ever seen in my lifetime. so what to make of the second amendment and what to do about it? joining me now is michael waldman, the president of the brennan center for justice at nyu and the author of the second amendment: a biography. and jeffrey toobin, staff writer for the new yorker and chief legal analyst here at cnn. michael, so when warren berger says that, he was, in a sense, expressing the view of the long continuity of american law, which had felt that the second amendment did not confer an
guns. yes, and mr. guttenberg and so many of the other survivors and their families have been so sensible about all of this. there were signals missed, cracks in the system. but the reason our country has this problem is that we allow weapons of war such as assault weapons to be sold freely. it s quite a remarkable moment to have the public s attention and maybe policymakers attention turned, as it has, to this unacceptable situation. and michael, in your book, as you talk about the history of the second amendment, how do you try to correct the record, if you will, about what the second amendment permits and what it doesn t permit? well, the second amendment was written at a time when people were worried about the state militias being crushed by the central government under the new constitution. those militias did involve