"Tombstone, Territory of Arizona, passed Ordinance No. 9 in 1880 making it `unlawful for any person to carry deadly weapons, concealed or otherwise (except the same be carried openly in sight, and in the hand) within the limits of the City of Tombstone.` It then amended the ordinance in 1881 to make it `unlawful to carry in the hand or upon the person or otherwise any deadly weapon within the limits of said city of Tombstone, without first obtaining a permit in writing.`

"Town marshal Virgil Earp allowed his brothers and friends to violate the law but he enforced it against his enemies. The trouble started when Wyatt Earp pistol-whipped Tom McLaury for not checking in his gun, and before long the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday shot dead three cowboys who refused orders to turn in their guns. Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday were charged with murder, but the case was dismissed.

"The Tombstone homicides were not exactly an inspiring showcase for bans on carrying firearms. While folks evaded the ordinance by carrying concealed arms, Tombstone was not a violent town; there were only three homicides with firearms in town that year, and the decedents were the cowboys shot by the Earps and Holliday in the name of law enforcement. It could hardly be suggested that such carry bans did not violate the right to bear arms simply because judicial decisions about them are lacking. A poor cowboy riding into town who failed to check his firearm with the marshal in a timely manner, and whose pittance of wages was taken for the fine, would hardly even think of or be in a position to locate and to retain an attorney to appeal to the jurisdiction`s highest court. Civil rights attorneys were hardly in abundance, and high-minded public interest law firms were not to be found in these dusty cow towns.

"One commentator notes of Old West carry bans that `how well these laws were enforced and whether they were effective is difficult to say, and it is all but impossible to know precisely how prevalent they were.` Such laws were of dubious validity once the territories became states and thereafter adopted bills of rights."

From Halbrook, The Right to Bear Arms, pgs. 256-257. ...

If you`re in the Lexington, Virginia area, I will be speaking at the Washington and Lee University School of Law this coming Tuesday, October 27, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. My topic is “The Second Amendment in 1776 and 2026.”
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#wlulaw #stephenhalbrook #2ahistory #2ndamendmenthistory #secondamendmenttoday ...

"During 1787-88, John Adams published his Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America. He approved of Aristotle`s ideal `to place the use of and exercise of arms in the people, because the commonwealth is theirs who hold the arms. . . .` Adams recognized the individual right to use arms for personal protection, but looked askance at the kind of armed protest recently exemplified in Shays` Rebellion: `To suppose arms in the hands of citizens, to be used at individual discretion, except in private self-defense, or by partial orders of towns, counties, or districts of a state, is to demolish every constitution, and lay the laws prostrate, so that liberty can be enjoyed by no man -- it is a dissolution of the government.` "

From Halbrook, The Right to Bear Arms: A Constitutional Right of the People or a Privilege of the Ruling Class?, p. 161 (hardback edition).

Painting: "Escape" by Andrew Knez Jr.
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#johnadams #foundingfather #Aristotle #ShaysRebellion #therighttobeararmshalbrook ...

I recently visited Omaha Beach in Normandy, France.

On June 6, 1944, thousands of American soldiers landed here as part of the Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe. Many never made it off the beach.

Standing on that sand was a powerful reminder of their courage, sacrifice, and the price of freedom.

Photos: The Les Braves sculpture honors the courage of the Allied soldiers who landed here. The nearby Signal Monument commemorates the American servicemen who fought and died during the Normandy landings.
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#OmahaBeachNormandy #omahabeachmemorial #WorldWarIIhistory #LesBraves #SignalMonument ...

"On October 15, I published a post arguing that true `sensitive places` where guns are banned must have armed protection. The same day, a murderer broke into a `gun-free-zone` school in Oregon and began shooting children and teachers. A dad of two girls at the school just happened to be driving by and grabbed his pistol, rushed into the school, and `neutralized` the killer with several shots. He was a concealed pistol licensee."
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"Just last year, Governor Kotek signed S.B. 243, the Community Safety Firearms Act, which her press release said `will help prevent mass shooting events in Oregon.`..."

"As revised by S.B. 243, Oregon law makes it a felony to possess a firearm in a public building, but if the building is a school, it is an affirmative defense that the person has a concealed handgun license, in which case it is a misdemeanor. ORS 166.370(1), (3)(g). However, a district school board `may adopt a policy providing that the affirmative defense … concerning persons licensed to carry a concealed handgun … does not apply to the possession of firearms on the grounds of the schools controlled by the board.` ORS 166.377(1). A board that adopts the policy must `Post a clearly visible sign, at all normal points of entry to the school grounds subject to the policy….` Id.

"The only effect of this policy is to criminalize a concealed handgun licensee from possession of a handgun at a school....

"Only 25 of the 197 school districts in Oregon have adopted this policy....

"It also means that the brave community member who entered the school and ended the carnage would have violated the law, but for a `choice-of-evils` justification defense...."

The above excerpts are from my Second Amendment Roundup blog post, "Saving Lives at Silver Rail Elementary" (10/19/26).

Read the post at reason.com/volokh or copy and paste: https://reason.com/volokh/2026/10/19/second-amendment-roundup-saving-lives-at-silver-rail-elementary/

Link can also be accessed through the home page of my website, stephenhalbrook.com
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#concealedcarry #gunfreezone #oregongunlaws #silverrailelementary #secondamendmentroundup ...

"In the newspaper Memphis Free Speech and elsewhere, along with Rev. Taylor Nightingale, who advised his congregants to obtain Winchester rifles, [Ida] Wells urged members of the black community to defend themselves with arms. Their repeated references to the virtues of the Winchester, and the defensive use thereof by black communities, were well publicized and would have consequences.

"Perhaps in response to such incidents in which blacks defended themselves with effective arms, in 1893, Florida made it `unlawful to carry or own a Winchester or other repeating rifle without first taking out a license from the County Commissioner`; only with a license would a person be `at liberty to carry around with him on his person and in his manual possession` such a rifle. A license required a $100 bond from sureties to be approved by the county commissioner. That would be equivalent to $2,943 in 2021. The average monthly wage for farm labor in Florida in 1890 was $19.35. The law did what it was intended to do when it effectively excluded the poor and African Americans from legal gun ownership. In 1901, the law was amended to add pistols to the list of firearms requiring a license."

From Halbrook, America`s Rifle: The Case for the AR-15, p. 153.
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#AmericasRifleTheCaseForTheAR15 #idabwells #blackgunsmatter #winchesterrifle #armeddefense ...

Now that`s a hat! This 1973 photo shows hunter Bill Van Houten looking out from a pit blind with a full Canada goose decoy rigged onto his cap. Geese have incredible vision, and the slightest movement of a human head will spook a circling flock. By wearing the decoy, any movement looked completely natural from above.

Back before high-tech layout blinds and modern camo patterns, hunters used their creativity to hide from their targets.
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#duckdecoy #WaterfowlHunting #DuckHunting #GooseHunting #VintageHuntingphoto ...

"Dr. Angus McClellan has just posted 151 pages of `Additional Research on Comprehensive Security and Sensitive Places` showing that at the Founding armed security was tied to each of Bruen`s three sensitive places where arms could be restricted. Historical tradition from the American colonies and early states demonstrates that the predicate for banning weapons by the public at courts, legislative assemblies, and polling places was the government`s provision of real protection in fact...."
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"...McClellan states: `The primary purpose of this additional research is to determine whether all 13 original colonies or early states had armed, government security personnel assigned to doorways at the sensitive places of courthouses/courtrooms, legislative buildings/chambers, and polling places.` A secondary purpose, he continues, is to confirm that courthouses, legislatures, and polling places were indeed `sensitive,` i.e., governments could or did ban weapons there....The research compiles sources showing where bans were enacted with evidence that such places were secured.

"McClellan`s research is truly overwhelming and is supported by hundreds of footnotes. Weapons were not necessarily always banned in the subject places, but they could be; the ultimate point is that these places were secured by government agents. I will mention only one entry illustrative of each of the identified sensitive places.

" `Courthouses. At the trial of Aaron Burr, General James Wilkinson was disarmed in the court by the U.S. marshal to prevent him from intimidating the jury, indicating at least that (1) weapons were or could be banned in court, (2) government officers were present in court to disarm people....` "

The above excerpts are from my Second Amendment Roundup blog post, "Sensitive Places" Issue Coming to a Head? (10/15/26).

Read the post at reason.com/volokh or copy and paste: https://reason.com/volokh/2026/10/15/second-amendment-roundup-sensitive-places-issue-coming-to-a-head/

Link can also be accessed through the home page of my website, stephenhalbrook.com
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#sensitiveplacesdoctrine #gunrestriction #firearmslaw #historyandtradition #secondamendmentroundup ...