Robert Spitzer (political scientist)

This article is about the political scientist. For other people with the same name, see Robert Spitzer (disambiguation).

Robert J. Spitzer is an American political scientist.

Education

Spitzer attended high school in New Hartford, New York. He received a Bachelor of Arts (summa cum laude) degree from SUNY Fredonia (1975), a Master of Arts degree (1978) and a Doctor of Philosophy degree (1980) from Cornell University.

Career

Spitzer is Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the State University of New York at Cortland. He is the author of thirteen books and hundreds of articles, essays, and papers on many topics related to American government. His areas of specialty include the American Presidency, and gun control. His recent books include Saving the Constitution from Lawyers: How Legal Education and Law Reviews Distort Constitutional Meaning, and Gun Control: A Documentary and Reference Guide. He is the author of The Politics of Gun Control (ISBN 978-0-87289-417-4; fourth ed., 2008), a book which analyzes the political antecedents and consequences of the controversial issue of gun control. The book examines the history of gun control, the Second Amendment, criminological consequences of guns, the role of interest groups, public opinion, Congress, Presidency, the courts, and the major legislative acts pertaining to gun control, including the Gun Control Act of 1968, the Firearms Owners' Protection Act of 1986, the Brady Act of 1993, the Assault Weapons Ban of 1994, and the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act of 2005.

Spitzer views the Brady Act as a notable piece of legislation because, during its first six years of implementation, it prevented about 600,000 handgun purchases nationwide (representing about 2.5 percent of all handgun purchases) from being completed to those with criminal records or mental problems. The measure's enactment was politically significant because it represented a defeat for the politically powerful National Rifle Association. The law was also significant because the higher fees imposed by the act led to the reduction of licensed gun dealers from 300,000 to 100,000.

Prior to the United States Supreme Court rulings in District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago, Spitzer argued against the individualist interpretation of the Second Amendment, stating, "As four Supreme Court cases and nearly twenty lower federal court rulings have made clear, the Second Amendment pertains only to citizen service in a government-organized and regulated militia." Spitzer's critics have since accused him of using the Heller and McDonald rulings, which affirm an individual right to keep and bear arms but allow for restrictions on the carrying of concealed firearms and the carrying of firearms in "sensitive places," to make straw man arguments against pro-concealed carry organizations that do not, as he suggests, claim "they have a constitutional right to carry guns."

Partial bibliography

• The Presidency and Public Policy (1983)
• The Right to Life Movement and Third Party Politics (1987)
• The Presidential Veto (1988)
• The Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution (1990)
• President and Congress (1993)
• Media and Public Policy (1993)
• The Politics of Gun Control (1995, 1998, 2004)
• Politics and Constitutionalism (2000)
• The Right to Bear Arms (2001)
• Essentials of American Politics (2002)
• The Presidency and the Constitution (2005)
• Saving the Constitution from Lawyers (2008)
• Editor, Book Series on American Constitutionalism for SUNY Press

Awards and honors

• Chair of Political Science Department SUNY Cortland(2008-current)
• SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities (2003)
• President, Presidency Research Group of the American Political Science Association (2001–2003)
• Cortland College Student Association Outstanding Faculty Award (1987, 1991 and 2003)
• New York State/United University Professions Excellence Award (1991)
• Best Paper Award, American Political Science Association (1996)
• Member, New York State Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution (1986–1990)
• Former Chair, Homer Zoning Board of Appeals
• Hearing Officer, Cortland, Tompkins, and Chenango County Boards of Health