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What we do: The Second Amendment Project at the Independence Institute. Kopel describes how much the Second Amendment Project has accomplished in the last third of a century. 89 seconds.

Kopel explains the history of machine guns and the different types. University of Wyoming Firearms Research Center, Oct. 18, 2024. 31 minutes.

New

Smith & Wesson v. Mexico. No. 23-1141. Supreme Court amicus brief of the National Rifle Association, FPC Action Foundation, and Independence Institute. Merits brief on Mexico's abusive, unlawful lawsuit against American firearms manufacturers. Dec. 3, 2024.

Snope v. Brown. No. 24-203. Supreme Court amicus brief of International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association, Professors of Second Amendment Law And History, and Independence Institute. In support of cert. petition in challenge to Maryland ban on common rifles. Sept. 23, 2024.

Firearms Law Textbook 2024 Supplement Now Available: For free -- 566 pages. Reason/Volokh Conspiracy. Sept. 17, 2024.

Malcolm Gladwell's Invented Facts Make Good Stories: His "Revisionist History" podcast can amount to historical fiction. Reason/Volokh Conspiracy. Sept. 11, 2024.

How Some Courts are Evading Bruen by Changing its Rules: Lower Courts evading the "plain text" of the Second Amendment. Reason/Volokh Conspiracy. Sept. 4, 2024.

Short articles

"El atentado contra Trump hace temer un derramamiento de sangre en la campaña." La Razon (Spain). July 21, 2024. Interview by Jesus Buitrago.

Un camino cuesta abajo. La Razon (Spain). July 21, 2024. Re Trump. Interview by Jesus Buitrago.

Law Enforcement Trainers File Scotus Amicus Brief against Maryland Rifle Ban. Citizens should be able to choose the same high-quality defensive arms that peace officers choose. Reason/Volokh Conspiracy. Mar. 18, 2024.

Preview of Supreme Court Bump Stock Case. In Cargill v. Garland, the Court should apply the National Firearms Act text that Congress did enact, and not the text that gun control advocates wish had been enacted. Reason/Volokh Conspiracy. Feb. 27, 2024.

"Shall Not Be Infringed" Is Pretty Clear. Analysis of recent court decisions in Maryland and Oregon, and the NY Times' sloppy coverage thereof. America's 1st Freedom. Jan. 18, 2024.

Firearms Law Works-in Progress Conference 2024. Reason/Volokh Conspiracy. Jan. 2, 2024.

History Podcasts for the New Year. Reason/Volokh Conspiracy. Dec. 29, 2023.

How Magazine Bans Thwart Self-Defense. Bans on standard magazines benefit criminals and endanger victims. Reason/Volokh Conspiracy. Dec. 20, 2023.

Hanukkah and the Jewish fight for independence. Complete Colorado. Dec. 11, 2023.

Law Enforcement Officers Are Part of "the People," Not Above Them. Law enforcement amicus brief against Colorado magazine ban. Reason/Volokh Conspiracy. Dec. 11, 2023.


In the Media

AR-15 Rifles and the Constitution: Does the Second Amendment include a right to own one? The Supreme Court might soon decide..Wall Street Journal. Editorial Board. Dec. 8, 2024.

Evolution of Machine Guns: A Historical Perspective by David Kopel ~ VIDEO. Ammoland. Dec. 6, 2024. F. Riehl.

Second Amendment Roundup: Supreme Court Grants Cert in Mexico v. Smith & Wesson. Reason, Volokh Conspiracy. Oct. 22, 2024. Stephen Halbrook.

Wyoming Man Trying to Get Federal Machine Gun Ban Overturned. Cowboy State Daily. Oct. 18, 2024. Clair McFarland.

Dangers of Misrepresenting History: Malcolm Gladwell, Sir John Knight, & the 2nd Amendment. Sept. 18, 2024. F. Riehl.

Do Americans Have a Constitutional Right to an AR-15? Gun-Rights Groups Ask the Supreme Court Firearms advocates fight state restrictions on the most popular rifle in the U.S. Wall Street Journal. Aug. 26, 2024. Jacob Gershman (paywall).

Fourth Circuit upholds Maryland gun licensing law. Courthouse News. Aug. 23, 2024. Joe Dodson.

Minnesota's 'Draconian' Self-Defense Ruling Exposes Loophole In Wyoming Law. Cowboy State Daily, Aug. 2, 2024. Clair McFarland.

'He is so pitiful': Joe Biden ripped as he botches Thomas Jefferson quote, falsely claims Americans couldn't own cannons during Civil War. MSN.com. June 12, 2024. Conrad Dias.

Biden botches Thomas Jefferson quote and falsely claims Americans couldn’t own cannons during the Civil War in gun control speech. N.Y. Post. June 11, 2024. Victor Nava.

Biden fails to mention son's gun conviction in address on firearms safety. Fox News. June 11, 2024. Louis Casiano.

Wyoming Professor Tells Supreme Court Not To Let Mexico Sue Gun Makers. Cowyboy State Daily. May 29, 2024. Clair McFarland.

Even The Washington Post Called Joe Biden for This Second Amendment Lie. Townhall. Apr. 10, 2024. Matt Vespa.


Television, Radio, Podcasts 

Colorado Inside Out. Aug. 16, 2024. Presidential campaign, fake Google ads by Harris. Denver government a million dollars for each vagrant taken off the streets. Abortion ballot measure would authorize taxpayer funding for abortion, and eliminate parental notification requirement for minors. Elizabeth school district book policy explained. Worst: Another longtime Capitol Hill restaurant closes due to attacks from vagrants. Best: Longmont's Valarie Allman wins Olympic gold in discus.

The First Installment of Our Legal Scholar Series: Dave Kopel. NRA. July 15, 2024. Interview re Kopel article How the British Gun Control Program Precipitated the American Revolution, 6 Charleston Law Review 283 (2012). 35 minutes.

2A Scholar David Kopel Reacts to Major Supreme Court Ruling. Kopel discusses Rahimi with Stephen Gutowski. The Reload. June 23, 2024. 46 minutes.

"End-to-End." American gun law and politics. RTVI. Russian language television for overseas Russians. June 11, 2024. Diana Lesnhicha.

Dave Kopel of Independence Institute on Mexico Suing USA Over Guns. Ross Kaminsky Show. KOA 850. Denver. June 6, 2024.


Latest Monographs & Journal articles

The History of Bans on Types of Arms Before 1900. Including handguns, Bowie knives, daggers, slungshots, brass knuckles, cannons and more. 50 Journal of Legislation 223 (Notre Dame) (2024). With Joseph G.S. Greenlee.

Restoring the right to bear arms: New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen. In 2021-22 Cato Supreme Court Review (Trevor Burrus ed., Sept. 16, 2022).

Guns Kill People, and Tyrants with Gun Monopolies Kill the Most. 25 Gonzaga Journal of International Law 20 (2021).

Errors of Omission: Words Missing from the Ninth Circuit's Young v. State of Hawaii, 2021 University of Illinois Law Review Online 172 (May 13, 2021). With George A. Mocsary.

Red Flag Laws: Proceed with Caution. 45 (Alabama) Law & Psychology Review 39 (2021).


In the Courts and Legislatures

Smith & Wesson v. Mexico. No. 23-1141. Supreme Court amicus brief of the National Rifle Association, FPC Action Foundation, and Independence Institute. Merits brief on Mexico's abusive, unlawful lawsuit against American firearms manufacturers. Dec. 3, 2024.

Smith & Wesson v. Mexico, No. 23-1141 (U.S. Sup. Ct., May 22, 2024). Amicus brief for National Rifle Association and Independence Institute in suppport of cert. petition. Mexico is copying the malicious tactics of the American gun prohibition lobby in previous decades, with meritless litigation designed to destroy the firearms industry through litigation expenses. Mexico's crime problem is self-inflicted by its corrupt government and its nullification of the Mexican Constitution right to arms. Claims that a large percentage of Mexican crime guns are American, or recently acquired in America, are provably false.

United States v. Rahimi. No. 22-915 (U.S. Sup. Ct., Oct. 4, 2023). Amicus brief. This brief, alone among the all the briefs filed, distinguished the two subparts of 18 U.S.Code 922(g)(C). The (C)(i) restriction arms rights of individuals whom a court has found to be "a credible threat" to intimate partners does not infringe the Second Amendment. The (C)(ii) restriction is based on no findings at all, and is an infringement. The Supreme Court's June 21, 2024, decision upheld (C)(i) (the subsection under which Rahimi had been convicted) and pointedly stated that the Court was not deciding that (C)(ii) is constitutional. The brief was filed on behalf of professors Randy Barnett, Robert Cottrol, Lee Francis, Donald Kilmer, Joyce Malcolm, George Mocsary, Joseph Muha, Joseph Olson, Glenn Reynolds, and Gregory Wallace; the Second Amendment Law Center; and the Independence Institute.

Garland v. Cargill, No. 22-976 (U.S. Sup. Ct., Jan. 26, 2023). Amicus brief. The Court's June 14, 2024, decision agreed with the position argued in the amicus brief that the federal statutory definition of "machinegun" as a gun that "automatically" fires more than one bullet by "a single function of the trigger" can not be redefined by ATF to mean "a single pull." The brief was filed on behalf of Senators Cynthia M. Lummis (Wyoming), Mike Lee (Utah), Kevin Cramer (North Dakota), John Barrasso (Wyoming), Pete Ricketts (Nebraska), Steve Daines (Montana), Cindy Hyde-Smith (Mississippi), Mike Rounds (South Dakota), Markwayne Mullin (Oklahoma); Professors Royce de R. Barondes (Missouri, emeritus), F. Lee Francis (Mississippi College School of Law), Nicholas J. Johnson (Fordham), Donald E.J. Kilmer, Jr. (Lincoln Law School), Joyce Malcolm (George Mason, emerita), Joseph V. Muha (Akron), Joseph E. Olson (Mitchell-Hamline, emeritus), David A. Raney (Hillsdale), Glenn H. Reynolds (Tennessee), E. Gregory Wallace (Campbell); and the Independence Institute.

NRA v. Vullo, No. 22-842 (U.S. Sup. Ct., Jan. 16, 2023). Amicus brief. The Court's decision of May 30, 2024, agreed with the brief that the threats of NY Governor and his financial regulatory agency against banks and insurances companies that do business with the NRA violated the First Amendment. The brief was filed on behalf of the Second Amendment Foundation, John Locke Foundation, and Independence Institute.

Gates v. Polis, No. 22-cv-1866-GPG-SKC (D. Colo., Nov. 30, 2023). Amicus brief of the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association, the Colorado Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors Association, the Western States Sheriffs Association, Sheriffs John Feyen (Larimer County), Gene Lillard (Montrose), Brett Powell (Logan), Todd Rowell (Mesa), Steve Reams (Weld), Aaron Shiplett (Baca), Lou Vallario (Garfield), Sam Zordel (Prowers), and the Independence Institute. Colorado ban on magazines over 15 rounds endangers public safety. Motion for Leave to File Amicus Brief.

 

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