Some of my fondest childhood memories involve summer camp and the many sports and activities we enjoyed. These vintage photos are a reminder of a time when learning safe rifle marksmanship was a common part of the summer camp experience, teaching responsibility, discipline, and confidence alongside the fun.
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#OutdoorHeritage #YouthMarksmanship #VintageAmerica #firearmstraining #2aheritage ...

"In Reichskristallnacht, which took place in November 1938, the Nazis went on a rampage breaking into Jewish homes and businesses, burning synagogues, and throwing thousands of Jewish men into concentration camps. To ensure that the Nazi thugs would not get hurt, SS head Heinrich Himmler decreed that any Jew found with a firearm would be sentenced to twenty years in a concentration camp.

"As Gun Control in the Third Reich recounts, Berlin President Wolf Heinrich von Helldorf began a campaign to confiscate all firearms from Jews two months before the pogrom began, proving that the pogrom was not a spontaneous action but was preplanned by the Nazi hierarchy. New documents published since this book was written show that the disarming was planned months earlier, demonstrating even more forcibly the critical importance to the National Socialist hierarchy of confiscating all arms from the Jews.

"Jewish gun owners were targeted for revocation of their permits beginning in 1933, and in 1935 the Gestapo issued a directive that, in general, permits should not be issued to Jews. Those directives did not necessarily prohibit the mere keeping of guns. However, placing Jews into the legal category of "Asozialer" (antisocial elements) subjected them to systematic police surveillance, preventive detention, and a `prohibition on carrying or possessing arms.` "

From Halbrook, Gun Control in the Third Reich: Disarming the Jews and "Enemies of the State", Preface to the 2025 edition.
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#nazigermanyhistory #guncontrol #guncontrolinthethirdreich #ww2history #kristallnacht ...

In 1976, I took my two oldest children with me to the National Archives to see the Declaration of Independence. It was a moving experience to see our nation`s founding document preserved in the dimly lit Rotunda.

Happy 250th birthday to our country! 🎆 May the liberties proclaimed in the Declaration and secured by our Constitution always be protected.

Photos: The black-and-white photo on the left shows the Declaration in the original helium-filled preservation case that visitors—including my children and I in 1976—would have seen. The color photo on the right shows the Declaration as it is displayed today in its argon-filled preservation case.
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#Semiquincentennial #Bicentennial #declarationofindependence #NationalArchives #americanfreedom ...

"The Declaration of Independence, drafted by Thomas Jefferson and signed by the members of the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, upheld the right of the people to assert their sovereignty over an oppressive government. Just governments are created by the consent of the governed to secure the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but when a government `becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government....`"
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"Inherent in the Declaration`s philosophy is the right of the people to keep and bear arms to defend themselves from such depredations and...`to throw off such government.` And to prevent just that, in 1777, Undersecretary of State William Knox in the British Colonial Office recommended to members of the Ministry, among other measures: `The Militia Laws should be repealed and non suffered to be re-enacted, & the Arms of all the People should be taken away....`

"But it was too late either to abolish the militias or confiscate the populace`s firearms...."

From Halbrook, The Right to Bear Arms: A Constitutional Right of the People or a Privilege of the Ruling Class?, pgs. 144-145 (hardback edition).

Photo: from the "Call to Arms: The Soldier and the Revolutionary War" exhibit at the National Museum of the United States Army in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. The Museum`s Soldier Profile for this life-sized figure reads: "Sylvanus Wood was one of the militia men who stood at Lexington. Like many, he wore civilian clothing to the action. He recalled Capt. John Parker saying, "Every man of you who is equipped, follow me." Later that day, Wood became the first American to capture a British soldier."
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#usarmymuseum #revwar250 #americanmilitia #thedeclarationofindependence #therighttobeararmshalbrook ...

"On June 30, the Supreme Court granted cert in two cases involving prohibitions on semiautomatic rifles. In Viramontes v. Cook County, arising out of the 7th Circuit, the petition posed the issue as: `Whether the Second and Fourteenth Amendments guarantee the right to possess AR-15 platform and similar semiautomatic rifles.` That was consolidated with Grant v. Rovella, which concerns Connecticut`s ban upheld by the 2nd Circuit. The statement of the question in Viramontes will apply to both cases.

"The Viramontes petition begins with the following statement:

" `Last term, this Court denied certiorari in Snope v. Brown, a case raising the constitutionality of Maryland`s ban on the AR-15 platform rifle. 145 S. Ct. 1534 (2025) (Mem.) In his statement respecting denial, Justice Kavanaugh pointed out that there is a "strong argument that AR-15s are in `common use` by law-abiding citizens and therefore are protected by the Second Amendment" and that it is "analytically difficult to distinguish the AR-15[] … from the handguns at issue in Heller." Id. at 1534 (Kavanaugh, J., statement respecting denial). Justice Kavanaugh noted that there were several other cases pending in the Courts of Appeals raising the same issue, including this one, and stated that "this Court should and presumably will address the AR-15 issue soon, in the next Term or two." Id.` "

The above excerpts are from my Second Amendment Roundup blog post, "Cert Granted on Semiautomatic Rifle Bans" (6/30/26).

Read the post at reason.com/volokh or copy and paste: https://reason.com/volokh/2026/06/30/second-amendment-roundup-cert-granted-on-semiautomatic-rifle-bans/

Link can also be accessed through the home page of my website, stephenhalbrook.com
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#SCOTUS #riflebans #AR15rifles #2ndamendmentcases #secondamendmentroundup ...

"The Declaration of Independence, adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, upheld the right of the people to assert their sovereignty over an oppressive government. Just governments are created by the consent of the governed to secure the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But when a government `becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government….` That presupposed the right of the people to keep and bear arms, which the Continental Congress constantly acted to facilitate."

From Halbrook, America`s Rifle: The Case for the AR-15, p. 104.

With the United States preparing to commemorate its 250th anniversary, the words of the Declaration continue to invite reflection on the nation`s founding ideals surrounding liberty, self-government, and individual rights.
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#thedeclarationofindependence #continentalcongress #2ahistory #lifelibertyandthepursuitofhappiness #AmericasRifleTheCaseForTheAR15 ...

In June, I traveled to Chur, Switzerland, to take part in the 2026 Federal Shooting Festival. In addition to competing with my club the Swiss Rifles of Washington, D.C., I shot several individual programs with the M49 9 mm pistol at 25 meters and the SIG Stgw 90 5.6 mm service rifle at 300 meters. I have participated in the once-every-five-years Federal Shoot, the largest rifle match in the world, since 1995. This year, some 30,000 competitors, mostly Swiss, are competing. Look for my future magazine article on the subject.

To see the newspaper article (in German) on my participation in the Shoot, go to stephenhalbrook.com, click the "Switzerland" tab at the top of the page, then scroll down to "Articles" to find “US-Amerikaner bewundert die Schweiz.” Or copy and paste this link: https://stephenhalbrook.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Salzmann-Article.pdf

Photo: I am holding a SIG Stgw 90, also designated as SG 550.
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#EidgenössischesSchützenfest #EidgenössischesSchützenfestChur #Schuetzenfest #swissrifles #shootingcompetition ...