The Second Amendment has not always been the gun advocate’s mantra, says Brennan Center for Justice president Michael Waldman, and therefore may not prevent reform. Waldman will be at the Center for American Progress at noon on Monday, July 21 to discuss his new book, The Second Amendment: A Biography (Simon & Schuster, $25) and the controversial past and future of the right to bear arms.

Of course, times were different when the Second Amendment was written. In 1792, all white men aged 16 to 60 were enrolled in the 13 state militias and were required to own a musket. Waldman says that an individual’s right to gun ownership was intrinsically tied to this fact of the era; the Framers would not understand a distinction between individuals and militia members today.

The Amendment’s wording was always “foggy” compared to other amendments, the book explains, and its interpretation has said much about “how our country has changed, how we see ourselves and our government, [and] how we balance the rights of individuals and the need for safety.”

Waldman writes that “for 218 years, judges overwhelmingly concluded that the amendment authorized states to form militias, what we now call the National Guard.” When the country expanded west and when Prohibition fostered gangsterism, several federal control laws on guns were instituted.

Libertarian ideals and a more radical National Rifle Association shifted the country in favor of gun ownership in the 1970s. “Then, in 2008 … in the case of District of Columbia v. Heller, an opinion written by Justice Antonin Scalia declared that the Constitution confers a right to own a gun for self-defense in the home.”

The author acknowledges that readers may be surprised to know that the Supreme Court only made this official six years ago. But this information frames the present and future gun debates, now done in the context of this ruling. It also demonstrates that gun laws have not always stood firm in the words of the Second Amendment, but have actually been subject to public attitudes, advocacy and political turbulence.

Waldman is president of the NYU School of Law’s Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan policy institute and legal voice on election law, Constitutional law, government reform and racial justice. Before that, he was director of speechwriting and policy aide for President Bill Clinton. Waldman frequently provides television, radio, and newspaper commentary on public policy, and The Second Amendment: A Biography is his fifth book.

The event is free but space is extremely limited and registration is required here. A light lunch will be served.