by Stephen Chapman

About the author: Stephen Chapman, columnist for the Chicago Tribune, has written articles for the Atlantic, Harper's Magazine, and Reason.

During 1994’s re-election campaign, Texas Gov. Ann Richards knew enough to cultivate the gun-owners vote: She made a show of taking a shotgun into the field on the first day of dove season. Though no game birds ventured her way, she came off better than her Republican opponent, George W. Bush, who mistakenly (and illegally) bagged a killdeer. But Richards had vetoed a bill making it easier to get a concealed-weapon permit, which Bush endorsed. On Election Day, shotgun and all, she got cashiered by the voters.

This issue is not just one of those weird Texas things. The most striking development in gun laws is not 1994’s federal ban...