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
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
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
“Virginia’s Second Amendment Sanctuaries: Do They Have Legal Effect?,” SSRN (Nov. 22, 2020).
“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” Federalist Society Review Vol. 21 (Mar. 31, 2020).
“The Right to Bear Arms: For Me, But Not for Thee?” 43 Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy 1, 331-46 (Spring 2020).
“To Bear Arms for Self-Defense: A ‘Right of the People’ or a Privilege of the Few? Part 1” Federalist Society Review Vol. 21 (Mar. 23, 2020).
“A Swiss Schuetzenfest: The World’s Largest Rifle Match,” Shooting Sports USA (Oct. 9, 2019).
“Taking Heller Seriously: Where Has the Roberts Court Been, and Where Is it Headed, on the Second Amendment?” 13 Charleston Law Review 175 (2018).
“Firearm Sound Moderators: Issues of Criminalization & the 2nd Amendment,” 46:1 Cumberland Law Review 33 (2016).
Op-Eds & Short Articles
“How Does New York City Get Away with This?” America’s 1st Freedom, July 26, 2020.
“Will the Second Amendment Survive Coronavirus?” National Review, Mar. 30, 2020, and Independent Institute, Mar. 31, 2020.
“What Makes a Gun a Gun?” America’s 1st Freedom, Mar. 23, 2020.
“We Must Remember Our History of Freedom,” America’s 1st Freedom, Mar. 8, 2020.
“Second Amendment Sanctuaries Started in 1774,” American Thinker, Dec. 22, 2019.
“Recalling the Tragic History of Gun Control,” The American Spectator, Sept. 4, 2019.
“Gun Control: The Kristallnacht Version Of ‘Common-Sense Safety’,” Investor’s Business Daily, Nov. 15, 2018.
“Some of the world’s most powerful banks push policies circumventing Constitution and federal laws,” Los Angles Times, Sept. 13, 2018.
“The Second Amendment had nothing to do with slavery,” Fox News, June 22, 2018.
“Time for a History Lesson About Gun Control,” TownHall, June 22, 2018.
TV Appearances

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
Radio Interviews
The Right to Bear Arms – The Federalist Society’s Practice Group Podcast (April 2020)
“The U.S. Supreme Court Ruling on Sandy Hook Families’ Lawsuit against Remington Arms” – Lawyer 2 Lawyer Podcast (November 2019)
“Supreme Court Moves Forward on Huge Second Amendment Case” – Bearing Arms’ Cam & Co Podcast (October 2019)
Die Waffe als Teil der Identität, Deutschlandfunk (May 2019)
Common Sensei, Laura Rosen Cohen – Podcast on Gun Control in 3rd Reich (May 2019)
Podcast on the Second Amendment from the Duncan School of Law (February 2019)
In the Rabbit Hole Urban Survival Podcast (September 2018)
Liberty Watch Radio (August 2018)
“Out of Order Podcast” (August 2018)
Instagram Updates
In Reverend Simeon Howard's June 1773 sermon, he spoke on the universal principle of self-preservation to which he ...
Jan 22

In Reverend Simeon Howard's June 1773 sermon, he spoke on the universal principle of self-preservation to which he stated it "allows of every thing necessary to self-defence, opposing force to force, and violence to violence." He explained that Christianity was fully consistent with that fundamental law:
"Defending ourselves by force of arms against injurious attacks is a quite different thing from rendering evil for evil. The latter implies doing hurt to another, because he has done hurt to us; the former implies doing hurt to another, if he is hurt in the conflict, only because there is no other way of avoiding the mischief he endeavours to do us: the one proceeds from malice and revenge; the other merely from self-love, and a just concern for our own happiness, and argues no ill will against any man."
From The Founders' Second Amendment: Origins of the Right to Bear Arms, p. 27.
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#reverendsimeonhoward #simeonhoward #selfdefensesermon #selfpreservation #christiansandguns #2ahistory #constitutionalrights #thefounderssecondamendment #2a #2ndamendment #rtkba #righttobeararms #americanfounders #individualrights #armedcitizen #keepandbeararms #selfdefense #firearm #firearms #gunowner #naturalrights #rightsofconscience #liberty #rtba #evilforevil #defendyourself #fundamentallaw
"Nothing clears a troubled mind like shooting a bow." - Fred Bear
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#fredbear #fredbearquotes ...
Jan 21

"Nothing clears a troubled mind like shooting a bow." - Fred Bear
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#fredbear #fredbearquotes #huntingquotes #getoutdoors #hunt #hunting #righttohunt #gamehunting #huntinglife #hunter #huntingisfun #outdoorlife #outdoorsman #outdoorsforthesoul #hunters #fieldhunting #gohunt #archery #bowhunting #bowhuntinglife #bowhunter #archeryhunter #bowseason #archeryhunting #bowhunterslife #hunting_photo #americanhunter #americanhunters #deerhunt #deerhunting
Louis Charmeau, a member of the French Resistance during WWII, shared with me his recollections on German disarming ...
Jan 20
![Louis Charmeau, a member of the French Resistance during WWII, shared with me his recollections on German disarming policies. "From July 1942 through the date of my arrest on May 22, 1944, I was able to save two Jewish families and twenty-five persons denounced for possession of arms or other offenses that would have led them straight to deportation or execution." When asked where did arms used in the Resistance come from, Charmeau replied, "Maybe 15 percent came from civilians who had left for the Maquis [rural resistance fighters] with their old arms, often without ammunition. Eighty-five percent came from airdrops. Yes, some were taken from German soldiers, but only after 1944, when they were prisoners." Gun Control in Nazi-Occupied France, p. 155.
Photo: (Original Caption) 9/10/1944-Marseille, France- Five women, members of the Maquis, raise the rifles and display the pistols they used to fight the Nazi garrison in Marseille before the entry of Allied troops. The city now liberated, the women parade with other residents, in the background, to celebrate victory and freedom.
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#frenchresistance #frenchresistancefighter #frenchresistancefighters #frenchresistanceheros #maquis #ww2guns #franceguncontrol #wwii #gunconfiscation #frenchguncontrol #nazi #2A #naziguncontrol #guncontrol #nazioccupiedfrance #righttobeararms #guncontrolinnazioccupiedfrance #nazilaws #disarm #ww2history #wwiihistory #rtkba #righttobeararms #europeanhistory #francehistory #frenchliberation #armspossession #illegalarms #nazideportation #nazisoldiers](https://secureservercdn.net/198.71.233.51/ae1.c83.myftpupload.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png)
Louis Charmeau, a member of the French Resistance during WWII, shared with me his recollections on German disarming policies. "From July 1942 through the date of my arrest on May 22, 1944, I was able to save two Jewish families and twenty-five persons denounced for possession of arms or other offenses that would have led them straight to deportation or execution." When asked where did arms used in the Resistance come from, Charmeau replied, "Maybe 15 percent came from civilians who had left for the Maquis [rural resistance fighters] with their old arms, often without ammunition. Eighty-five percent came from airdrops. Yes, some were taken from German soldiers, but only after 1944, when they were prisoners." Gun Control in Nazi-Occupied France, p. 155.
Photo: (Original Caption) 9/10/1944-Marseille, France- Five women, members of the Maquis, raise the rifles and display the pistols they used to fight the Nazi garrison in Marseille before the entry of Allied troops. The city now liberated, the women parade with other residents, in the background, to celebrate victory and freedom.
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#frenchresistance #frenchresistancefighter #frenchresistancefighters #frenchresistanceheros #maquis #ww2guns #franceguncontrol #wwii #gunconfiscation #frenchguncontrol #nazi #2A #naziguncontrol #guncontrol #nazioccupiedfrance #righttobeararms #guncontrolinnazioccupiedfrance #nazilaws #disarm #ww2history #wwiihistory #rtkba #righttobeararms #europeanhistory #francehistory #frenchliberation #armspossession #illegalarms #nazideportation #nazisoldiers
In defending a fellow republican at a murder trial in 53 B.C., Cicero "returned to a philosophical vidication of the ...
Jan 15

In defending a fellow republican at a murder trial in 53 B.C., Cicero "returned to a philosophical vidication of the right of self-defense and, by implication, the right to keep and bear arms. 'Civilized people are taught by logic, barbarians by necessity, communities by tradition; and the lesson is inculcated even in wild beasts by nature itself. They learn that they have to defend their own bodies and persons and lives from violence of any and every kind by all the means within their power.' "
From That Every Man Be Armed: The Evolution of a Constitutional Right, p. 17. For further analysis of Cicero's orations and philosophical writings, see chapter 1 this book.
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#cicero #marcustulliuscicero #philosopher #romansenator #romanrepublic #lawyer #politicalphilosophy #thinker #juliuscaesar #disarmament #tyranny
#2a #2ndamendment #rtkba #righttobeararms #armedpeople #armedpopulace #armedcitizen #keepandbeararms #selfdefense #thateverymanbearmed #historybuff #historygeek #romanhistory #2ahistory #historyisfun #quotedthinkers #thateverymanbearmed #naturalrights #righttoselfdefense
For those days when you can't decide if you want a wheellock firearm or battle axe!
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Jan 14

For those days when you can't decide if you want a wheellock firearm or battle axe!
From the NRA's National Firearms Museum in Fairfax, Virginia.
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#wheellock #wheellocks #wheellockgun #wheellockguns #axegun #axeguns #wheellockaxe #wheellockaxegun #wheellockaxeguns #battleaxe #battleaxegun #battleaxeguns #ancientgun #ancientguns #NRAmuseum #NRAmuseums #firearm #firearms #firearmsphotography #ancientguns #ancientfirearms #gun #guns #uniquegun #uniqueguns
At the Virginia ratification convention, George Mason recalled that “when the resolution of enslaving America was formed in...
Jan 13

At the Virginia ratification convention, George Mason recalled that “when the resolution of enslaving America was formed in Great Britain, the British Parliament was advised . . . to disarm the people; that it was the best and most effectual way to enslave them . . . .” 10 Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution 1271 (1993).
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#2ahistory #righttobeararms #armedpeople #armedpopulace #armed #armedcitizen #keepandbeararms #gunrights #constitutionalrights #firearms #naturalrights #2a #2ndamendment #2amendmentrights #2amendmentsupporter #2amendmentmatters #2ndamendmentrights #2ndamendmentright #2ndamendmentsupporter #freedom #righttokeepandbeararms #rtkba #rtba #gunrightsmatter #selfdefense #selfprotection #protectyourself #rightofthepeople #disarmthepeople #enslavethepeople
"It is a maxim, that a government ought to be cautious not to govern over-much, for when the cord of power is drawn too ...
Jan 12

"It is a maxim, that a government ought to be cautious not to govern over-much, for when the cord of power is drawn too tight, it generally proves its destruction . . . .” - "Deliberator" From the March 26, 1788 Philadelphia Freeman’s Journal, quoted in Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution, John P. Kaminski et al. eds. (Madison, Wisc.: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2019), vol. 34, 1101.
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#governmentpower #governmentalpower #constitution #liberty #freedom #oppression #governmentrepression #governmentoppression #questionauthority #philadelphiannewspaper #philadelphianewspaper #philadelphiafreemansjournal #ratificationoftheconstitution #historyoftheratificationoftheconstitution #patriots #freedomfighter #fightforliberty #americanhistory #donttreadonme #rulersandtheruled #therulers #theruled #sacredrights #naturalrights #humanrights #birthrights #privileges #defendyourrights #keepyourrights #governmentdestruction
"The rights of conscience, of bearing arms, of changing the government, are declared to be inherent in the people. ...
Jan 11

"The rights of conscience, of bearing arms, of changing the government, are declared to be inherent in the people. Freedom of the press, too." - Representative Fisher Ames of Massachusetts (letter to F. R. Minoe, June 12, 1789). Quoted in The Founders' Second Amendment: Origins of the Right to Bear Arms, p. 257.
"Portrait of Fisher Ames (1758-1808)" by Alonzo Chappell
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#2ahistory #constitutionalrights #thefounderssecondamendment #2a #2ndamendment #rtkba #righttobeararms #americanfounders #colonialamerica #uspatriot #individualrights #revolutionaryhistory #armedcitizen #keepandbeararms #selfdefense #firearm #firearms #gunowner #naturalrights #fisherames #freedomofthepress #rightsofconscience #liberty #freedomfromtyranny #rtba #americanfreedom #americanliberties