John Jay and Alexander Hamilton "argued in The Federalist No. 29 that military establishments would not be a danger where `a large body of citizens, little if at all inferior to them in discipline and the use of arms,` were ready to defend their rights."  On this date in 1789, John Jay was officially nominated by George Washington to the position of Supreme Court Chief Justice.  The U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed Jay two days later, on September 26.

Quote from Halbrook, The Founders` Second Amendment, p. 235.  

#johnjay #chiefjusticejohnjay #supremecourtchiefjustice #supremecourthistory #onthisdayinhistory ...

"Designed by Benjamin Henry in 1860, the Henry rifle was a lever-action that held sixteen, .44 caliber cartridges in a tubular magazine. Working the lever would eject a fired case and load a new round in the chamber. The Henry design formed the basis of the iconic Winchester rifles that followed, such as the Model 1873, `The Gun That Won the West.`"

From Halbrook, America`s Rifle: The Case for the AR-15, p. 135 (photo and caption).

Photos: (top) Union soldier with 1860 Henry Repeating Rifle; (bottom) from America`s Rifle, p. 135.
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#leveraction #Henryrifle #HenryLeverActionRifle #44caliber #AmericasRifleTheCaseForTheAR15 ...

Today is the first day of fall here in the United States. This season means more than just changing leaves. For generations of American hunters, fall has meant heading into the woods as hunting seasons opened.

Regulations governing deer hunting date back nearly four centuries. In 1646, Portsmouth, Rhode Island, prohibited the killing of deer from May 1 through November 1. Other colonies soon enacted similar restrictions as deer populations declined.

"English journalist William Cobbett, who came to the United States in 1792, wrote: `As to game-laws, there are none, except those which appoint the times for killing. People go where they like, and, as to wild animals, shoot what they like.`"

By the 18th century, laws regulating when deer could be hunted had become an established part of efforts to protect America`s game populations.

Cobbett quote from Halbrook, The Founders` Second Amendment: Origins of the Right to Bear Arms, pgs. 187-88.
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#firstdayofautumn #deerhuntingseason #timetogohunting #huntingtradition #thefounderssecondamendment ...

On the morning of September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. In Switzerland, a telegram quickly went out announcing the mobilization of the entire Swiss armed forces. On October 4, just two days before Poland fell to Germany, General Henri Guisan, commander-in-chief of the Swiss Army, issued Operations Order No. 2:

" ` At the border and between the border and army position, the border troops and advance guard persistently delay the advance of the enemy. The garrisons at the border and between the border and the works and positions making up the defensive front continue resistance up to the last cartridge, even if they find themselves completely alone.`

"The order also provided that obstacles of all types and destruction of bridges would slow down the advance of the aggressor.

"This astonishing order--that the Swiss militiaman must fire every cartridge and, implicitly, fight to the death without surrender--was in sharp contrast to the policies of other European countries, which surrendered to Hitler either with a command that their troops not resist, or after a short fight."

From Halbrook, Target Switzerland: Swiss Armed Neutrality in World War II, pgs. 78, 81.

Photo: "Soldiers and civilians read a poster announcing the mobilisation." [www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss-politics/mobilised/288]
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#generalguisan #Switzerlandhistory #armedneutrality #ww2history #targetswitzerland ...

"On September 14, the Fifth Circuit granted rehearing en banc in United States v. Cordova, a Second Amendment challenge to the lifetime felon gun ban, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). That follows the July 20 en banc rehearing grant in United States v. Squire, a challenge to the same prohibition under the Commerce Clause. These cases test whether Congress had the power in the first place, and even if so, is it prohibited from doing so?

"As I posted previously, Squire posed `a novel question about whether the Second Amendment protects a convicted drug trafficker from being dispossessed of a firearm inside his home based on our Nation`s historical tradition of firearm regulation.`..."
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"Turning to the Cordova case, the per curiam opinion noted felony convictions for drug possession, which doesn`t necessarily count anymore, and for evading arrest with a motor vehicle....

"Judge James C. Ho set the tone for his concurrence by beginning: `The right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment is a fundamental civil right, comparable to other provisions of the Bill of Rights.` The felon gun ban `imposes a lifetime ban on the possession of a firearm. And it does so even if the person has never been sentenced to serve a single day in prison.` Cordova himself was not sentenced to serve a single day in prison...."

The above excerpts are from my Second Amendment Roundup blog post, "5th Circuit En Banc to Rehear Felon Gun Ban Cases" (9/17/26).
Read the post at reason.com/volokh or copy and paste: https://reason.com/volokh/2026/09/17/second-amendment-roundup-5th-circuit-en-banc-to-rehear-felon-gun-ban-cases/

Link can also be accessed through the home page of my website, stephenhalbrook.com
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#USvCordova #2ndamendmentchallenge #gunban #2ndamendmentcases #secondamendmentroundup ...

Though women were a small minority of hunters in the mid-20th century, photographs like this one are a reminder that the hunting tradition was never exclusively male.

I`m looking forward to deer season starting later this fall. How about you?
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#deerseason #vintagehuntingphotos #deerhunters #huntingtraditions #1950swomen ...

When the Constitutional Convention proposed a Constitution without a bill of rights, Benjamin Franklin "was under no illusions. On the last day of the convention, he stated that `this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in despotism, as other forms have done before it....` In a few minutes, the Constitution was signed by all of the delegates present, except for three who believed the convention had exceeded its authority---George Mason, Elbridge Gerry, and Edmund Randolph of Virginia. As the last members were signing, Franklin looked at the painting of a rising sun behind the president`s chair and observed to those sitting around him: `I have often and often, in the course of the session, and the vicissitudes of my hopes and fears as to its issue, looked at that behind the president, without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting; but now, at length, I have the happiness to know that it is a rising, not a setting sun.`

"George Mason was not so sure and was already drafting objections to the Constitution...."

Today marks the 239th anniversary of delegates signing the U.S. Constitution at the close of the Philadelphia Convention in 1787. (It would take until June of the following year for all 13 states to ratify it.)

From Halbrook, The Founders` Second Amendment: Origins of the Right to Bear Arms, p. 176.
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#philadelphiaconvention #constitutionalconvention #1787 #thefounderssecondamendment #onthisdateinhistory ...

Shays’ Rebellion was an armed uprising of Massachusetts farmers in 1786, led by Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays. The farmers protested heavy taxes and debt-collection practices that threatened their farms and livelihoods.

"Shays` Rebellion in 1786 led to enactment of a law that if 12 or more persons `armed with clubs, or other weapons` gathered, a justice of the peace could order them to disperse and could `require the aid of a sufficient number of persons in arms` to help. Obviously, 11 or fewer persons could go armed together. Other than that, Massachusetts had no laws restricting the peaceable bearing of arms."

From Halbrook, The Right to Bear Arms: A Constitutional Right of the People or a Privilege of the Ruling Class?, p. 153 (hardback edition).

Image: Portrait of Daniel Shays. Also, “Shays’s forces in Massachusetts” by William Sheppard
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#therighttobeararmshalbrook #2ahistory #shaysrebellion #DanielShays #armedcitizens ...