mr. guttenberg said, all come down to the role of 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 everybody who was a white man, who was an adult having a weapon by law. it's a very, very different time. the u.s. supreme court did not rule that that second amendment reflects