The liberal case for gun rights

The Second Amendment debate is often cast in terms of liberals (pro gun-control) versus conservative (pro gun rights). I've long believed that framework was misleading, as the right to arm oneself is clearly a liberal position when we look at the classic definitions of liberal and conservative. Classic political philosophy suggests the support of individual rights is a liberal perspective, while the conservative position supports the authority of political institutions.

So from the classic political perspective (and least as I can best recall it from my undergrad days at U.C. Riverside studying poli sci long ago) both pro-choice and pro gun rights are liberal positions that uphold the rights of the individual, while anti-choice and anti gun rights positions are conservative in that they affirm the authority of political institutions to limit individual rights.

An any case, the modern liberal can't simultaneously hold an expansive interpretation of the First Amendment, or other elements of the Bill of Rights, and then become strict constructionists when reading the awkwardly worded Second Amendment. This story in the New York Times illustrates that point.