In 2008, the Supreme Court converted the Second Amendment from feeble to formidable. The justices not only struck down a Washington, D.C., ban on handguns but proclaimed an individual right to own guns for self-defense. Two years later, they tossed out a similar Chicago law.

As a result, the Second Amendment has never been stronger or more protective of gun owners’ rights. Yet today Republican politicians act as though it were in mortal danger.

After Barack Obama announced such steps as tightening enforcement of federal regulations on gun sales, Donald Trump lamented, “He’s taking chunks and chunks out of the Second Amendment.” Ted Cruz said the measures are “unconstitutional.”

They overlook two critical facts. The first is that if Obama adopts any policy that abridges the right to keep and bear arms, the Supreme Court will deep-six it. The second is that almost none of what he is doing offends the Second Amendment.