Issue number 5 of this year’s Connecticut Law Review is an excellent symposium on firearms law, policy, and culture. The lead article is from Nicholas Johnson, of Fordham: Firearms Policy and the Black Community: An Assessment of the Modern Orthodoxy. Johnson (who is my co-author on the Second Amendment textbook Firearms Law and the Second Amendment) details the long […]
Archive | McDonald v. City of Chicago
Ice-T, Volokh, and Kopel: Together at last in a feature film
By David Kopel on June 23, 2013 3:12 pm in Constitutional History, Constitutional Law, Guns, History, McDonald v. City of Chicago, Popular Culture, Registration, Self-Defense, Terrorism
The film is Assaulted: Civil Rights under Fire. It opened Friday in a limited theatrical release. Assaulted tells the modern and historic story of the Second Amendment, with a particular focus on civil rights. The events include Reconstruction, the Deacons for Defense, the Battle of Athens, the post-Katrina gun confiscations, and much more. The narrator is Ice-T. […]
The Great Gun Control War of the 20th Century — And its Lessons for Gun Laws Today
By David Kopel on May 31, 2012 2:37 pm in Constitutional History, Constitutional Law, Fourteenth Amendment, Guns, History, McDonald v. City of Chicago, Politics, Popular Constitutionalism, Registration, Right to carry, Supreme Court
This is the subject of my article in a forthcoming symposium issue of the Fordham Urban Law Journal. The article details the political, cultural, social, and legal battles over gun control from the 1920s to the early 21st century. Here’s the abstract: A movement to ban handguns began in the 1920s in the Northeast, led […]
New textbook: Firearms Law and the Second Amendment: Regulation, Rights and Policy
By David Kopel on May 15, 2012 4:32 pm in Casebooks, Guns, McDonald v. City of Chicago, Militia, Non-Firearms Arms, Registration, Right to carry
The first law school textbook on the Second Amendment is now available from Aspen Publishers. The co-author are Nick Johnson (Fordham), Michael O’Shea (Oklahoma City), George Mocsary (Connecticut), and me. Here’s the publisher’s page for the textbook, from which professors can request a free review copy. The book is also available for civilian purchase from […]
Crime plummets in Chicago and DC after handguns re-legalized
So explains John Lott, in an opinion column for Foxnews.com. Not a surprising result. The McDonald v. Chicago amicus brief I wrote for the International Law Enforcements Educators & Trainers Association (and other law enforcement organizations, and criminologists) showed that after Chicago enacted its handgun ban, its violent crime rate rose sharply. Pre-ban, Chicago had […]
Congressional hearing on interstate handgun carry reciprocity
By David Kopel on September 14, 2011 10:21 pm in Congress, Federalism, Fourteenth Amendment, Guns, McDonald v. City of Chicago, Right to carry
On Tuesday I testified before the U.S. House subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, regarding H.R. 822, which would set up a national system of interstate reciprocity for concealed handgun carry permits. My 24-page written testimony is here. The video of the subcommittee hearing is about and hour and 45 minutes. Nearly all members […]
Cert. Petition in Right to Carry Case
By David Kopel on April 22, 2011 4:19 pm in Constitutional Law, Guns, McDonald v. City of Chicago, Standing, Supreme Court
Filed earlier this week by Stephen Halbrook, in the case of Williams v. Maryland. In short, Maryland bans all handgun transportation or carry without a permit, and has a permitting process which formally declares that it will deny permits to almost everyone. As the petition explains, “the Maryland State Police, the Maryland Handgun Permit Review Board, […]
Assessing the Very Limited Impact of McDonald and Heller on Gun Regulations
By Ilya Somin on December 6, 2010 6:36 pm in Constitutional Theory, Guns, McDonald v. City of Chicago
When the Supreme Court for the first time recognized the existence of an individual right to bear arms in District of Columbia v. Heller in 2008, I warned that the decision might well end up giving gun owners very little new protection against regulation: The Supreme Court may have endorsed an individual right under the […]
Amicus brief in Calif. concealed carry case
Peruta v. San Diego is one of several cases challenging sheriff misapplication of California’s concealed handgun carry licensing statute. The case features Chuck Michel as lead attorney for plaintiffs. The case does not assert that California’s statute requiring a license to carry a concealed handgun for protection is unconstitutional. Rather, the argument is simply that […]
The Individual Mandate Debate as a Replay of McDonald v. City of Chicago
The more I participate in discussions on the constitutionality of the indivdiual mandate, the more it feels to me like a replay of last year’s discussions on the Privileges or Immunities Clause on the road to McDonald v. City of Chicago. In both cases, the issue is whether the Supreme Court will adopt limitations on […]
My Senate briefing on Kagan and the McDonald Case
By David Kopel on August 5, 2010 3:20 pm in Constitutional Law, Guns, Kagan Nomination, McDonald v. City of Chicago
It was delivered in late June to the Second Amendment Task Force, a group of Republican Senate aides. (Unfortunately, the Senate’s protocals of partisanship prevent organizations like this from having aides from both parties.) My presentation is here (22 minutes). The presentation by Hans Von Spakovsky, Senior Research Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, is here. And […]
Suit against the new Chicago anti-gun laws
Available here. See paragraphs 19-28 for description of which parts of Chicago’s legal regime are being challenged. The National Rifle Association is helping with the funding of the case, but is not a party. Lead attorney is Charles Cooper, so it is certain that the presentation of the plaintiffs’ arguments will be outstanding.
The Battle Cry of Freedom
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ffBXm7kJkk[/youtube] A wonderful song at all times, and especially around Independence Day, especially this year. “The Battle Cry of Freedom” was written during the Civil War, and sung by Union troops going into battle. This video pays tribute to Ulysses Grant, the General most responsible for winning the war for the Union. Elected President of […]
A Citable Version of Hamburger’s Privileges or Immunities Article Now Online
In the discussion of the McDonald case a few weeks ago, I posted a link to Philip Hamburger’s manuscript, Privileges or Immunities. His forthcoming article, which will be published by the Northwestern Univ. Law Review, is now online in a version that may be cited and quoted.
“Despite High Court Skepticism, Advocates Defend Privileges Clause Push”
In the National Law Journal, Tony Mauro has an article on the possible impact of the petitioner’s tactical decision to focus on the Privileges or Immunities Clause in McDonald v. City of Chicago. I think it’s just too early to know, as the decisions haven’t been written yet. If I had to guess, though, my […]