Free Republic

The History of Bans on Types of Arms Before 1900, by David Kopel and Joseph Greenlee, Law review article, 165 pages, 2021. The Supreme Court, in the seminal Bruen decision, held: once the clear text of the Second Amendment is implicated, the burden falls on the government to prove there were widespread and accepted statutory restraints in history which are very similar to the restraints the government is defending.The law review article by Kopel and Greenlee is the most comprehensive compilation of the laws on ownership and regulation of arms from medieval England through 1900, especially on weapons bans, yet...

This post provides an update on last week’s developments in Cooke et al. v. Hickenlooper. This is a lawsuit filed May 17 in federal District Court in Denver, challenging two gun laws enacted by the state legislature in March. In the case, I represent 55 of Colorado’s 62 elected Sheriffs, plus one retired police officer. Other plaintiffs, with their own attorneys, include the Colorado Farm Bureau, Outdoor Buddies (which helps disabled people participate in outdoor sports), the Colorado Outfitters Association (trade association for hunting guides), federally-licensed firearms dealers, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, and others. We argue that House Bill...

Has the rate of random mass shootings in the United States increased? Over the past 30 years, the answer is definitely yes. It is also true that the total U.S. homicide rate has fallen by over half since 1980, and the gun homicide rate has fallen along with it. Today, Americans are safer from violent crime, including gun homicide, than they have been at any time since the mid-1960s. ... Real gun-free zones are a wonderful idea, but they are only real if they are created by metal detectors backed up by armed guards. Pretend gun-free zones, where law-abiding adults...

A law being crafted by the Illinois state legislature in Springfield to comply with Tuesday’s order from the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals will result in a “shall issue” gun carrying permit, one of the foremost scholars, law professors, authors and attorneys on Second Amendment issues believes. David B. Kopel, who was cited in both the majority and dissenting opinions in Moore vs. Madigan, shared that opinion with Gun Rights Examiner this morning in response to an inquiry about the type of permitting gun owners can expect. Illinois is the only state that currently provides no options for bearing arms...

On Monday, Research Director of the Independence Institute David Kopel appeared on CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight to debate the issue of gun-related violence with Piers and Josh Horwitz from the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. In the video below, you can see the debate unfold. What’s most telling in this exchange is Morgan’s admission that he, personally, would like to “Remove every gun in America.” Of course, what preceded this statement only seconds earlier was the perfunctory disclaimer, which is often made by those who secretly wish to pass onerous gun laws, “I do have a respect for the Second...

What I would like to talk about today is two themes that come together. The first is what is wrong with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the second is what’s wrong with Independence Institute President Jon Caldara. Michael Bloomberg has created a faux grassroots organization called “Mayors Against Illegal Guns.” Financially, it is by far the economic center of the gun prohibition movement in this country today. It is very wealthy and employs lots and lots of lobbyists in DC and in state capitals around the country. George Soros put some money in it as well; they’ve got...

Eugene Volokh’s post below discusses a dissent by the Ninth Circuit’s Judge Reinhardt in a capital sentencing case. Judge Reinhardt accurately states that carrying a gun is a Second Amendment right, to make the broader point that carrying a gun is not, in itself, illegitimate behavior. Judge Reinhardt could have strengthened his opinion by citing two cases in which the U.S. Supreme Court reversed capital convictions because the district court had improperly treated gun carrying as evidence of malign, homicidal intent. The first of these is Gourko v. United States, 153 U.S. 183 (1894). John Gourko was 19 year old...

Over the past several weeks, Guns.com has had the pleasure of interviewing two Second Amendment luminaries. On June 2, it was UCLA Law Professor Eugene Volokh who gave us his insight and expertise on legal issues related to the 2nd Amendment. And this week, I had the honor of interviewing David Kopel, Research Director of the Independence Institute; an Associate Policy Analyst with the Cato Institute, and adjunct Professor of Advanced Constitutional Law at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law (Prof. Kopel is also a contributing writer to Prof. Volokh’s law blog, ‘The Volokh Conspiracy’). I’ve shared this...

Regarding Eugene Volokh’s post below about an NYU L. Rev. article, “The People” of the Second Amendment: Citizenship and the Right To Bear Arms. I just scanned the article, and there appears to be only a single footnote which directly cites any state statutes from before 1800. Note 125, accurately cites standard statutory compilations from Massachusetts and Connecticut for laws against selling firearms to Indians. Although the author is apparently unaware that by 1661 (Connecticut) and 1688 (Massachusetts) the laws were changed to allow gun sales (and even gun carrying in towns) by friendly Indians. The article suffers very severely...

Cam Edwards talks to Dave Kopel from the Independence Institute, who discusses his testimony before today's Senate Judiciary Committee Crime and Terrorism Subcommittee hearing on "The Fix Gun Checks Act: Better State and Federal Compliance, Smarter Enforcement."

February 24, 2009, 4:00 a.m. Stick to Your Guns, SenatorGiving in to the anti-gun lobby will not help Kirsten Gillibrand stay in office. By Dave Kopel What should Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand do about guns? As a two-term U.S. representative from upstate New York, she had a perfect pro–Second Amendment voting record. A week ago, she admitted to Newsday that she kept two rifles under her bed for family defense. This has not sat well with the gun-prohibition crowd, although when Newsday put the question to a reader vote, 97 percent did not mind her owning guns for this purpose....

This weekend, I attended and spoke at the Second Amendment Foundation’s annual Gun Rights Policy Conference, which was held at a convention center in northern Kentucky, a few miles away from Cincinnati. What I saw and heard there changed my mind about the viability of Ron Paul’s presidential candidacy; Paul is going to far outperform the expectations laid out for him. First, for some background: twenty years ago, the Second Amendment Foundation (the second-largest pro-Second Amendment group in the U.S.) began sponsoring an annual Gun Rights Policy Conference, in conjunction with other pro-gun groups, including the NRA. For a full...

Professors find most media 'significantly to the left of the average U.S. voter' People argue a lot about whether the national mainstream media is politically biased, but such arguments are often impressionistic. Earlier this month, professors Tim Groseclose of UCLA and Jeffrey Milyo of the University of Missouri published the results of an investigation using rigorous quantitative analysis

Denver dailies, like others around U.S., find little room to cover continent's woes Speaking at Kent Denver School last Saturday, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright bemoaned what she saw as lack of American support for sub-Saharan black Africa (The Denver Post, June 12). The same criticism might be leveled at the media, for its neglect of African events. A June 14 commentary headline in The Christian Science Monitor asked, "In Congo, 1,000 die per day: Why isn't it a media story?" The Monitor noted that absence of reader interest is the standard explanation. After all, newspapers have a finite...

[excerpts] Early this week, a Kerry campaign spokesman admitted - as the Swift Vets had charged - that Kerry's first Purple Heart might have been the result of an accidentally self-inflicted injury on Dec. 2, 1968, rather than as a result of "intense combat" as Kerry's Web site has claimed. (As reported by columnist Bob Novak late this week, retired Rear Adm. William L. Schachte Jr. said that he was on Kerry's boat that day, and that "Kerry nicked himself with a M-79" grenade launcher.) The campaign's admission was reported by Fox News and The Washington Times, while most of...

Fifty-six Deceits in Fahrenheit 911   By Dave Kopel   [This is a preliminary version of an article that will be published on National Review Online.This report was first posted on the web on the morning of July 1. Since then, I've revisedseveral sections in response to reader requests for clarifications, and have added additionaldeceits which have been pointed out by readers or journalists. Astute readers will observethat the number of identified deceits now exceeds 56. I have not retitled the report or re-numbered the original 56 deceits. The final version will update the deceit count.] There are many articles which...

There are many articles which have pointed out the distortions, falsehoods, and lies in the film Fahrenheit 9/11. This report compiles the Fahrenheit 9/11 deceits which have been identified by a wide variety of reviewers. In addition, I identify some inaccuracies which have not been addressed by other writers. The report follows the approximate order in which the movie covers particular topics: the Bush family, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and Iraq. This report focuses solely on factual issues, and not on aesthetic criticism of the film. To understand the deceptions, it helps to understand Moore’s ideological position. So let us start...

[This is a preliminary version of an article that will be published on National Review Online.] There are many articles which have pointed out the distortions, falsehoods, and lies in the film Fahrenheit 911. This report compiles the Fahrenheit 911 deceits which have been identified by a wide variety of reviewers. In addition, I identify some inaccuracies which have not been addressed by other writers. The report follows the approximate order in which the movie covers particular topics: the Bush family, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and Iraq. This report focuses solely on factual issues, and not on aesthetic criticism of the...

ALL THE WAY DOWN THE SLIPPERY SLOPE: GUN PROHIBITION IN ENGLAND AND SOME LESSONS FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES IN AMERICA Joseph E. Olson[1] and David B. Kopel[2] Table of ContentsI. Introduction II. Wrenching Freedom From the King--The 1689 English Bill of Rights and the Right to Arms III. The Late Nineteenth Century IV. The Early Twentieth Century through World War II         A. The First Step         B. Dangerous Weapons         C. Dangerous People         D. The Firearms Act         E. Genuine Danger V. The Turbulent 1960s VI. The British Gun Control System in Practice: Administrative Abuse VII. Momentum for...

The Silveira Threat How long will the Second Amendment live? Silveira v. Lockyer is a Second Amendment lawsuit which has, according to Gun Week (Sept. 1) "gained almost cult status among gun owners." This status is mostly to the benefit of the gun-prohibition lobby, for Silveira has already seriously harmed Second Amendment rights, and the damage may not be over. The suit was filed in February 2000, to challenge the 1999 amendments to the 1989 California "assault-weapon" control act (AWCA). The complaint blew its credibility on at the very beginning, opening with a fabricated quote attributed to Hitler. The quote...