Before the U.S. Supreme Court in Castillo v. U.S. (2000)
“Stephen Halbrook is an attorney with extensive knowledge of the historical underpinnings of the Second Amendment and practical knowledge of litigating in this rapidly evolving area of law. His writings include topics as diverse as Gun Control in the Third Reich and The Founders’ Second Amendment, and he was heavily involved in Heller and McDonald.”
– U.S. District Judge Michael J. Reagan
Shepard v. Madigan, 2014 WL 4825592, *7 (S.D. Ill. 2014)
Supreme Court Practice
Comments on ATF Regulation Proposals
Practice Areas
Gun Control Act/National Firearms Act
- Firearm technical classifications
- ATF regulatory compliance
- FFL warning conferences, license denials,
and revocations - Forfeitures
- Legal disabilities and restoration of civil rights
- Criminal defense
State and Local Laws
- “Assault weapon” restrictions
- Legal status of firearms
- Challenging restrictions
1968 Hearings on GCA Regulations
Books
Congressional Testimony
Feinstein Semiauto Ban & Fix NICS
12-6-2017
Sportsmen’s Heritage & Recreational Enhancement (SHARE) Act
10-12-2017
Judge Sotomayor Nomination
Senate Judiciary Committee | 7-17-2009
Eric Holder Nomination
Senate Judiciary Committee | 1-16-2009
Scholarly Articles
“Textualism, the Gun Control Act, and ATF’s Redefinition of ‘Firearm’,” Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy: Per Curiam No. 32, (Summer 2024).
“Text-and-History or Means-End Scrutiny? A Response to Professor Nelson Lund’s Critique of Bruen,” 24 Federalist Society Review, (Mar. 15, 2023).
“The Second Amendment Was Adopted to Protect Liberty, Not Slavery: A Reply to Professors Bogus and Anderson,” 20 Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy 575 (2022).
“Право народа на хранение и ношение оружия: вторая поправка билля о правах сша” [“The Right of the People to Keep and Bear Arms: the Second Amendment in the U.S. Bill of Rights”], 2 Ukrainian Law Journal “Law of the USA” (2013), 240-50.
“The Right of the People to Keep and Bear Arms: the Second Amendment in the U.S. Bill of Rights,” 2 Ukrainian Law Journal “Law of the USA” (2013), 240-50.
“Banning America’s Rifle: An Assault on the Second Amendment?,” 22 Federalist Society Review (June 28, 2021).
“Virginia’s Second Amendment Sanctuaries: Do They Have Legal Effect?,” Regent University Law Review, No. 2, 277 (2020-2021).
“The Eidgenössisches Schützenfest: a Traditional Shooting Festival,” Swiss American Historical Society Review (Nov. 2020).
“To Bear Arms for Self-Defense: A ‘Right of the People’ or a Privilege of the Few? Part 2” 21 Federalist Society Review (Mar. 31, 2020).
Second Amendment Roundup at The Volokh Conspiracy
“Follow ATF into a Political Briar Patch?,” The Volokh Conspiracy, October 3, 2024.
“ATF’s Final Rule Implicates the Right to Bear Arms,’” The Volokh Conspiracy, October 2, 2024.
“ATF’s Wish to Trace More Firearms Doesn’t Justify Redefining ‘Firearm,’” The Volokh Conspiracy, October 1, 2024.
“Textualism and ATF’s Redefinition of ‘Firearm,’” The Volokh Conspiracy, September 30, 2024.
“VanDerStok Tests Limits of Yet Another ATF Rule,” The Volokh Conspiracy, September 29, 2024.
“New York’s ‘Good Moral Character’ Requirement for Gun Permits,” The Volokh Conspiracy, September 26, 2024.
“8th Circuit Rules in Favor of Pistol Brace Owners,” The Volokh Conspiracy, August 25, 2024.
“8th Circuit Rules for 18 to 20-Year-Olds,” The Volokh Conspiracy, July 22, 2024.
“Rahimi Preserves Bruen,” The Volokh Conspiracy, June 26, 2024.
“Bump Stocks Are Not Machineguns,” The Volokh Conspiracy, June 16, 2024.
Op-Eds & Short Articles
“The NRA Goes to the Highest Court in the Land to Protect Our Right to Speak,” America’s 1st Freedom, May 24, 2024.
“This Supreme Court Case Also Matters,” America’s 1st Freedom, Jan. 20, 2024.
“The Great Legal War Over Your Freedom,” America’s 1st Freedom, Dec. 23, 2023.
“The Battle for Freedom Escalates,” America’s 1st Freedom, June 28, 2023.
“Book Review: Einer Für Alle, Alle Für Einen—One For All, All For One,” 59 Swiss American Historical Society Review, No. 2, 92-100 (2023).
“America’s Rifle: What the Gun-Control Crowd Doesn’t Want You to Know about AR-Type Rifles,” America’s 1st Freedom, Jan. 29, 2023.
Second Amendment Law at The Volokh Conspiracy, Dec. 2022.
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- “Should Courts Appoint Historians as Experts in Second Amendment Cases?,” Dec. 15, 2022.
- “Did the Fourteenth Amendment Alter the Meaning of the Second Amendment?,” Dec. 14, 2022.
- “‘Plain Text,’” Dec. 13, 2022.
- “America’s Rifle,” Dec. 12, 2022.
- “Stephen Halbrook Guest-Blogging on Second Amendment Law,” Dec. 12, 2022.
TV Appearances
Joe Biden's Proposed Gun Bans
Newsmax TV | 6-3-2022
The Right to Bear Arms
One America News Network | 6-21-2021
The Right to Bear Arms
Daily Wire | 6-10-2021
COVID-19: Will the Second Amendment Survive the Coronavirus?
Independent Institute | 4-29-2020
Protecting the Second Amendment
CPAC, National Harbor, MD | 2-27-2020
Does the Right to Bear Arms Include a Right to Carry Handguns in Public?
Federalist Society, Washington, D.C. | 1-15-2019
Assault Weapons or Assault on the Constitution?
Federalist Society, Long Island | 4-24-2018
What Does "Well-Regulated Militia" Mean?
Fox Business | 10-15-2014
Nazi Gun Control
Newsmax TV | 10-16-2014
2nd Amendment Rights
The Daily Ledger | 12-23-2013
Presentations
Courthouse Steps Oral Argument: Garland v. Cargill – The Federalist Society, (Mar. 5, 2024)
Attorney Stephen Halbrook Discusses the Upcoming Supreme Court Case Garland v. Cargill on Whether Bump Stocks Are Machine Guns – The Federalist Society, “A Seat at the Sitting: The February Docket” (Feb. 15, 2024)
Attorney Stephen Halbrook Talks SCOTUS Re: Biden “Ghost Gun” and “Weapons Part Kits” – Four Boxes Diner (Aug. 13, 2023)
The Case for the AR15 – The Republican Professor (Aug. 1, 2023)
Attorney Stephen Halbrook Breaks Down Current Pistol Brace Fight – Four Boxes Diner (May 22, 2023)
A Year After Bruen, and This Is Happening? – America’s First Freedom (May 20, 2023)
ATF OVERREACH: Stephen Halbrook on How ATF Rules DO NOT = LAW; Defeating the ATF in Court – The Dana Show with Dana Loesch (Mar. 28, 2023)
The Politically Incorrect Truth about America’s Rifle – America’s 1st Freedom (Feb. 4, 2023)