FIREARMS LAW AND PRECEDENT
Firearms Law Deskbook
If you are searching for timely information on firearms cases that are similar to yours, analyzing the disparity of gun control laws in different jurisdictions, or planning trial strategy, then Firearms Law Deskbook should be your first point of reference…
Scholarly Articles and Book Chapters
| Title | Date |
|---|---|
| “Banning America’s Rifle: An Assault on the Second Amendment?,” 22 Federalist Society Review (June 28, 2021). | 2021 |
| “The Constitutional Right to Hunt: New Recognition of an Old Liberty in Virginia,” 19 William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal, Issue 1, 197-233 (2010). | 2010 |
| “Defense of Self and Community: A Response to Professor Johnson,” 45 Connecticut Law Review 1653 (July 2013). | 2013 |
| “The Empire Strikes Back: The District of Columbia’s Post-Heller Firearm Registration System,” 81 Tennessee Law Review 571 (2014). | 2014 |
| “Firearms, the Fourth Amendment, and Air Carrier Security,” 53 Journal of Air Law and Commerce 585-680 (1987), reprinted in Serial No. 91, House Judiciary Committee, 100th Cong., 1st Sess., 174-270 (1987). | 1987 |
| “From Heller to Chicagoland: Will Reconstruction Come to the Windy City?” 3 Northeastern University Law Journal, No. 1, 105 (2011). | 2011 |
| “Guns, Criminality and Federalism: Supreme Court Curbs Congressional Power; Reins in Courts of Appeals,” 20 The Champion 12-15, 34 (June 1996). | 1996 |
| “Heller, the Second Amendment, and Reconstruction: Protecting All Freedmen or Only Militiamen?” 50 Santa Clara Law Review 1073 (2010). | 2010 |
| “The Jurisprudence of the Second and Fourteenth Amendments,” 4 George Mason University Law Review 1-69 (Spring 1981). | 1981 |
| “Miller versus Texas: Police Violence, Race Relations, Capital Punishment, and Gun-Toting,” 9 Journal of Law and Policy (Brooklyn Law School), No. 3, 737-66 (2001) (with Cynthia Leonardatos & David Kopel). | 2001 |
| “No Right to ‘Bear Arms’? A Critical Analysis of United States v. Masciandaro,” 1 Wake Forest Law Review Online 116 (2011). | 2011 |
| “NRA and Law Enforcement Opposition to the Brady Act: From Congress to the Courts” (with R. Gardiner), 10 St. John’s Journal of Legal Commentary 13-41 (Fall 1994). | 1994 |
| “NRA v. BATFE: A Misinterpretation of History,” Jurist, Nov. 9. 2012. | 2012 |
| “N.Y.’s Not So ‘SAFE’ Act,” 78 Albany L. Rev. 789 (2015) | 2015 |
| “‘Only Law Enforcement Will Be Allowed to Have Guns’: Hurricane Katrina and the New Orleans Firearm Confiscations,” 18 George Mason University Civil Rights Law Journal 339 (Spring 2008). | 2008 |
| “The Power to Tax, the Second Amendment, and the Search for Which ‘“Gangster” Weapons’ to Tax,” 25 Wyoming Law Review No. 1 (2025) (Special Issue: The National Firearms Act), 149-190. | 2025 |
| “Reality Check: The ‘Assault Weapon’ Fantasy & Second Amendment Jurisprudence,” 14 Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy 47 (2016). | 2016 |
| “A Revolution in Second Amendment Law,” Delaware Lawyer 12-16 (Winter 2011/2012) (with Dan Peterson). Cited as authority in Doe v. Wilmington Housing Authority , 88 A.3d 654, 663 n.32-34 (Del. 2014). | 2012 |
| “The Right to Bear Arms: For Me, But Not for Thee?” 43 Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy 1, 331-46 (Spring 2020). | 2020 |
| “The Right of Workers to Assemble and to Bear Arms: Presser v. Illinois, One of the Last Holdouts Against Application of the Bill of Rights to the States,” 76 University of Detroit Mercy Law Review 943-89 (Summer 1999). | 1999 |
| “The Right to Bear Arms in Texas,” 41 Baylor Law Review 629-88 (1989). | 1989 |
| “The Second Amendment in the Supreme Court: Where It’s Been and Where It’s Going,” 29 Hamline Law Review, No. 3, 449-49 (Summer 2006). | 2006 |
| “Second-Class Citizenship and the Second Amendment in the District of Columbia,” 5 George Mason University Civil Rights Law Journal, Nos. 1 & 2, 105-178 (1995). Cited as authority in Kasler v. Lockyer, 23 Cal.4th 472, 506, 2 P.3d 581 (2000) (Brown, J., concurring). | 1995 |
| “Suing the Firearms Industry: A Case for Federal Reform?” 7 Chapman Law Review 11-38 (Spring 2004). | 2004 |
| “Taking Heller Seriously: Where Has the Roberts Court Been, and Where Is it Headed, on the Second Amendment?” 13 Charleston Law Review 175 (2018). | 2018 |
| “Text-and-History or Means-End Scrutiny? A Response to Professor Nelson Lund’s Critique of Bruen,” 24 Federalist Society Review, (Mar. 15, 2023). | 2023 |
| “Textualism, the Gun Control Act, and ATF’s Redefinition of ‘Firearm’,” Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy: Per Curiam No. 32, (Summer 2024). | 2024 |
| “Tort Liability for the Manufacture, Sale, and Ownership of Handguns?” 6 Hamline University Law Review 351-382 (1983). | 1983 |
| “Virginia’s Second Amendment Sanctuaries: Do They Have Legal Effect?,”33 Regent University Law Review, No. 2, 277 (2020-2021). | 2020 |
Articles and Op-Eds
| Title | Date |
|---|---|
| “18 to 20 Age Ban Cases Coming to a Head,” The Volokh Conspiracy, March 20, 2025. | 2025 |
| “5th Circuit Holds Suppressors Not to Be Protected ‘Arms’,” The Volokh Conspiracy, February 17, 2025. | 2025 |
| “8th Circuit Rules for 18 to 20-Year-Olds,” The Volokh Conspiracy, July 22, 2024. | 2024 |
| “8th Circuit Rules in Favor of Pistol Brace Owners,” The Volokh Conspiracy, August 25, 2024. | 2024 |
| “9th Circuit Upholds California Magazine Ban (Again),” The Volokh Conspiracy, April 3, 2025. | 2025 |
| “Afraid to Trust the People with Arms,” 7 The Free Market No. 6, 2, 5 (June 1989); reprinted in The Economics of Liberty, ed. L. Rockwell (Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1990). | 1990 |
| “Agency ‘Guidance,’ Interpretive Regulations, and Chevron,” The Volokh Conspiracy, Jan. 25, 2024. | 2024 |
| “America’s Rifle,” The Volokh Conspiracy, December 12, 2022. | 2022 |
| “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. | 2023 |
| “Anatomy of a Lie,” America’s 1st Freedom, October 2001, 24-29, 52-53. | 2001 |
| “Another Look at the Brady Law,” The Washington Post, Oct. 8, 1994, A18. | 1994 |
| “Armed and Free,” Soldier of Fortune, December 1994, 6. | 1994 |
| “Armed School Guards Are Our Best Bet to Stop Future Newtowns,” Newsday (Long Island), Jan. 24, 2013. | 2013 |
| “Armenian Genocide Didn’t Happen by Accident,” Tribune News Service, May 13, 2015. | 2015 |
| “ATF Redefines ‘Engaged in the Business’,” The Volokh Conspiracy, Apr. 19, 2024. | 2024 |
| “ATF’s Final Rule Implicates the Right to Bear Arms,’” The Volokh Conspiracy, October 2, 2024. | 2024 |
| “ATF’s Wish to Trace More Firearms Doesn’t Justify Redefining ‘Firearm,’” The Volokh Conspiracy, October 1, 2024. | 2024 |
| “Attorney General Ashcroft & the Second Amendment,” NRA-ILA, (July 1, 2004). | 2004 |
| “Attorney General to Resume Removal of Disabilities,” The Volokh Conspiracy, March 24, 2025. | 2025 |
| “Ballot Initiatives: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” America’s 1st Freedom, Aug. 31, 2020. | 2020 |
| “BATF vs. Supreme Court,” 144 American Rifleman 4 (Apr. 1996). | 1996 |
| “The Battle for Freedom Escalates,” America’s 1st Freedom, June 28, 2023. | 2023 |
| “Bear Arms and Go to Jail,” Part A1 of We The People: Community Forums on the Constitution, American Bar Association Commission on Public Understanding About the Law (1987), 14 pp. | 1987 |
| “Bearing Arms a Right, Not Rhetoric,” Savannah Morning News, December 15, 2007. | 2007 |
| “Bearing Arms Is a Right,” San Antonio Express-News, April 16, 1991, 9-A. | 1991 |
| “Blame for Parkland Rests with Local School Officials and FBI Ineptitude,” Sacramento Bee, Feb. 28, 2018. | 2018 |
| “Bruen Was Right,” The Volokh Conspiracy, May 28, 2025. | 2025 |
| “Bump Stocks Are Not Machineguns,” The Volokh Conspiracy, June 16, 2024. | 2024 |
| “The Bush Administration and the Second Amendment,” ALEC Policy Forum, Vol.4, No.2, 42-45 (Summer/Fall 2002). | 2002 |
| “Can State Semi-Automatic Rifle Bans Last?” America’s 1st Freedom, December 19, 2024. | 2024 |
| “Cargill Bump Stock Argument in Supreme Court,” The Volokh Conspiracy, Feb. 29, 2024. | 2024 |
| “Cert Denied in Rifle and Magazine Ban Cases,” The Volokh Conspiracy, June 2, 2025. | 2025 |
| “Chicago Versus the Second Amendment,”Washington Examiner, Feb. 27, 2010. | 2010 |
| “Circuit Conflict in Felon Gun Ban Cases,” The Volokh Conspiracy, January 13, 2025. | 2025 |
| “Citizens’ Rights Reloaded” (with U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson), The Washington Times, June 29, 2008. | 2008 |
| “Concessions by the Government in the Rahimi Oral Argument,” The Volokh Conspiracy, Nov. 27, 2023. | 2023 |
| “Court Seems Disposed to Rule for S&W and Against Mexico,” The Volokh Conspiracy, Mar. 9, 2025. | 2025 |
| “D.C.’s Magazine Ban Argued Again in D.C. Circuit,” The Volokh Conspiracy, Feb. 20, 2024. | 2024 |
| “Debating the Second Amendment Point: The Constitution protects each American’s right to own a firearm,” San Diego Union Tribune, May 19, 2002, G1, 6. | 2002 |
| “Delaware’s ‘Assault Weapon’ Ban Argued in 3rd Circuit,” The Volokh Conspiracy, Mar. 14, 2024. | 2024 |
| “Delaware’s Gun Ban Heats Up,” The Volokh Conspiracy, July 13, 2023. | 2023 |
| “Did the Fourteenth Amendment Alter the Meaning of the Second Amendment?,” The Volokh Conspiracy, December 14, 2022. | 2002 |
| “District Court Invalidates California’s Unsafe Handgun Act,” The Volokh Conspiracy, Mar. 27, 2023. | 2023 |
| “‘Do as I Say, Not as You Ruled,’” The Volokh Conspiracy, Oct. 31, 2023. | 2023 |
| “Does the United States Need a National Database for Ballistic Fingerprints?,” Insight Magazine, Vol. 18, Issue 41, Nov. 26, 2002. | 2002 |
| “Don’t Confirm Holder,” Human Events, Jan. 28, 2009. | 2009 |
| “A Double Shot of Oral Arguments,” The Volokh Conspiracy, Apr. 3, 2024. | 2024 |
| “Emerson’s Second Amendment,” Independent Institute, 2001. | 2001 |
| “The Facial vs. As-Applied Quagmire,” The Volokh Conspiracy, June 25, 2025. | 2025 |
| “Firearms: On Trial in Germany,” NRA Action, 3 (August 1992). | 1992 |
| “Firepower and the Fourth Circuit,” The Volokh Conspiracy, December 9, 2024. | 2024 |
| “Follow ATF into a Political Briar Patch?,” The Volokh Conspiracy, October 3, 2024. | 2024 |
| “Fusillade of Amicus Briefs Filed in Rahimi,” The Volokh Conspiracy, Oct. 9, 2023. | 2023 |
| “The Great Legal War Over Your Freedom,” America’s 1st Freedom, Dec. 23, 2023. | 2023 |
| “Gun Control Laws Won’t Stop Las Vegas-Type Massacres,” Sacramento Bee, Oct. 12, 2017. | 2017 |
| “Gun Control Measures Hazardous for Citizens,” Canadian Firearms Journal, March/April 2015, 14-15. | 2015 |
| “Gun Control Is Not Constitutional,” in Guns and Violence, Henny H. Kim ed. (San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999), 109-112. | 1999 |
| “Gun Laws,” 2 Libertarian Forum, No. 20, 4-6 (Oct. 15, 1970). | 1970 |
| “Gun Ownership Rights Violated in Messerschmidt v. Millender,” Jurist—Hotline, December 16, 2011. | 2011 |
| “Guns and Prohibition, in Al Capone’s Day and Now,” The Wall Street Journal, April 11, 1989, A22. | 1989 |
| “Guns and Rights,” USA Today, May 16, 1990, 11A. | 1990 |
| “The Hawai’i Supreme Court Overrules Bruen,” The Volokh Conspiracy, Feb. 12, 2024. | 2024 |
| ““He’s at It Again!”,” The Volokh Conspiracy, Sept. 11, 2023. | 2023 |
| “How Does New York City Get Away with This?” America’s First Freedom (July 26, 2020). | 2020 |
| “Illinois Gun Ban Enjoined,” The Volokh Conspiracy, May 1, 2023. | 2023 |
| “In New York State Rifle, the Court Should Look to Text, History, and Tradition,” SCOTUSblog, Oct. 31, 2021. | 2021 |
| “Injunction Against Washington Magazine Ban Stayed Within Minutes,” The Volokh Conspiracy, Apr. 11, 2024. | 2024 |
| “It Started in Kentucky . . . Our First Gun Law,” Gun Digest 52-55, ed. K. Warner (DBI Books 1986). | 1986 |
| “Judge Garland and the Second Amendment,” The Washington Times, March 30, 2016, B3. | 2016 |
| “Judge Ho 2.0,” The Volokh Conspiracy, Nov. 21 2023. | 2023 |
| “A Judge Who Understands Firearms,” The Volokh Conspiracy, April 27, 2023. | 2023 |
| “Just in Time for the Supreme Court to Consider in Rahimi,” The Volokh Conspiracy, May 20, 2024. | 2024 |
| “Justice Stevens’s Second Amendment Pipe Dream,” National Review Online, April 18, 2018. | 2018 |
| “Letter from Prague,” Chronicles 33-35 (Jan. 1995). | 1995 |
| “Massachusetts Target Censorship Violates the First Amendment,” The Message, Aug. 1999, 8. | 1999 |
| “A Miscellany of Errors in Justice Department’s Rahimi Reply,” The Volokh Conspiracy, Nov. 2, 2023. | 2023 |
| “National Firearms Act Constitutional Issues,” The Volokh Conspiracy, April 29, 2025. | 2025 |
| “National Rifle Association,” 2 Violence in America: An Encyclopedia, ed. Ronald Cottesman (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1999), 436-38. | 1999 |
| “New York Gun Rights Case Before Supreme Court with Massive Consequences,” The Hill, July 23, 2021. | 2021 |
| “New York’s Futile Search for Historical Precedents for Its Handgun Carry Restrictions: The Massachusetts Model Was Not a Carry Ban and Required Aggressive Behavior Before It Applied,” The Volokh Conspiracy, Oct. 13, 2021. | 2021 |
| “New York’s ‘Good Moral Character’ Requirement for Gun Permits,” The Volokh Conspiracy, September 26, 2024. | 2024 |
| “No Controlling Legal Authority,” America’s 1st Freedom, November/December 2000, 14. | 2000 |
| “Not All History Is Created Equal,” The Volokh Conspiracy, Nov. 1, 2023. | 2023 |
| “NRA v. BATFE: A Misinterpretation of History,” Jurist–Hotline, Nov. 9, 2012. | 2012 |
| “The NRA Goes to the Highest Court in the Land to Protect Our Right to Speak,” America’s 1st Freedom, May 24, 2024. | 2024 |
| “NYC’s ‘Good Moral Character’ Requirement Void,” The Volokh Conspiracy, Oct. 28, 2023. | 2023 |
| “An Opening Judicial Salvo in Defense of Illinois’ New Rifle Ban,” The Volokh Conspiracy, Mar. 13, 2023. | 2023 |
| “Personal Liberty Guarantee,” The Washington Times, May 21, 1995. | 1995 |
| “Persons Aged 18-20 Are Entitled to Carry Firearms,” The Volokh Conspiracy, Apr. 6, 2023. | 2023 |
| “‘Plain Text,’” The Volokh Conspiracy, December 13, 2022. | 2022 |
| “‘Printz’ Will Have Effect on U.S. Gun Legislation,” National Law Journal, Aug. 18, 1997, A18. | 1997 |
| “Product Liability Law,” 131 American Rifleman 34-35, 71 (May 1983). | 1983 |
| “Rahimi Preserves Bruen,” The Volokh Conspiracy, June 26, 2024. | 2024 |
| “Rehearing En Banc Sought in 5th Circuit Suppressor Case,” The Volokh Conspiracy, March 11, 2025. | 2025 |
| “Relief in Sight? H.R. 2640,” America’s 1st Freedom, Sept. 2007, 44, & American Rifleman, Sept. 2007, 16. | 2007 |
| “Removing Silencers from the NFA,” The Volokh Conspiracy, June 12, 2025. | 2025 |
| “Repeal the Second Amendment?” The Washington Times, March 1, 2018, B3. | 2018 |
| “Reports of the Death of the Second Amendment Have Been Greatly Exaggerated: The Emerson Decision,” Independent Institute, November 19, 2001. | 2001 |
| “Restoring the Second and Tenth Amendments,” LEAA Advocate, Summer-Fall 1997, 70-72. | 1997 |
| “Rewriting the Second Amendment,” American Rifleman, October 2001, 48-49, 88-89. | 2001 |
| “S&W Sí, Mexico No,” The Volokh Conspiracy, June 9, 2025. | 2025 |
| “Second Amendment: Post-Sniper Policy,” National Law Journal A17 (Nov. 11, 2002). | 2002 |
| “The Second Amendment Dialogue at Fed Soc’s National Convention,” The Volokh Conspiracy, November 26, 2024. | 2024 |
| “The Second Amendment Stands,” USA Today, January 16, 1991, 8A. | 1991 |
| “Second Circuit Opines on New York’s Gun Restrictions,” The Volokh Conspiracy, Dec. 17, 2023. | 2023 |
| “Securing Civil Rights,” America’s First Freedom, Oct. 2010, 46-50. | 2010 |
| “Semiautomatic Article Draws BATF Response,” 136 American Rifleman 34-35 (December 1988). | 1988 |
| “The Sensitive Places Issue in New York Rifle,”The Volokh Conspiracy, Nov. 8, 2021 (with David Kopel). | 2021 |
| “Should All Gun Sales Be Registered in a National Database?” 23 CQResearcher, No. 10, 249, March 8, 2013. | 2013 |
| “Should Courts Appoint Historians as Experts in Second Amendment Cases?,” The Volokh Conspiracy, December 15, 2022. | 2022 |
| “Should the Fifth Circuit Reconsider Rahimi En Banc?,” The Volokh Conspiracy, Mar. 15, 2023. | 2023 |
| “Should the Fifth Circuit Reconsider Rahimi En Banc?,” The Volokh Conspiracy, Mar. 15, 2023. | 2018 |
| “Solicitor General Seeks Guidance from Supreme Court,” The Volokh Conspiracy, May 1, 2025. | 2025 |
| “Stephen Halbrook Guest-Blogging on Second Amendment Law,” The Volokh Conspiracy, December 12, 2022. | 2022 |
| “Supreme Court Considering Arms Ban Petitions on Friday,” The Volokh Conspiracy, January 7, 2025. | 2025 |
| “Supreme Court Decides VanDerStok,” The Volokh Conspiracy, March 31, 2025. | 2025 |
| “Supreme Court Grants Cert in Mexico v. Smith & Wesson,” The Volokh Conspiracy, October 22, 2024. | 2024 |
| “Supreme Court’s Latest Second Amendment Case Isn’t about Race, It’s about Rights,” The Washington Times, Oct. 25, 2021. | 2021 |
| “Supreme Court Relists Two Cases,” The Volokh Conspiracy, January 15, 2025. | 2025 |
| “The Court Should Grant Cert in Snope,” The Volokh Conspiracy, January 9, 2025. | 2025 |
| “Supreme Court Should Hold Its Decision in VanDerStok,” The Volokh Conspiracy, February 26, 2025. | 2025 |
| “Supreme Court Should Resolve Proximate Cause in S&W v. Mexico,” The Volokh Conspiracy, April 9, 2025. | 2025 |
| “The Supreme Court Should Review and Enjoin the Illinois Gun Ban,” The Volokh Conspiracy, May 10, 2023. | 2023 |
| “Supreme Court Sides with Gun Owners,” American Rifleman 46-48, 90-91 (August 1992). | 1992 |
| “The Supreme Court Stays Vacatur of AFT Regulations,” The Volokh Conspiracy, Aug. 8, 2023. | 2023 |
| “A Surprise Amicus Brief in the Challenge to New York’s Gun Carry Ban: Former Judge Luttig’s Arguments Are Off Base,” The Volokh Conspiracy, Oct. 14, 2021. | 2021 |
| “Terror Law Trap for Gun Owners?” The Washington Times, Mar. 14, 1996, A19. | 1996 |
| “Textualism and ATF’s Redefinition of ‘Firearm,’” The Volokh Conspiracy, September 30, 2024. | 2024 |
| “Third Circuit Rules Felon Ban Invalid as Applied,” The Volokh Conspiracy, June 11, 2023. | 2023 |
| “This Supreme Court Case Also Matters,” America’s 1st Freedom, Jan. 20, 2024. | 2024 |
| “The Truth about NICS,” America’s 1st Freedom, Nov. 25, 2020. | 2020 |
| “Ukraine War Reintroduces U.S. Politicians to the Second Amendment,” The Washington Times, Mar. 29, 2022. | 2022 |
| “Upholding Oregon’s Magazine Ban,” The Volokh Conspiracy, July 25, 2023. | 2023 |
| “U.S. Files Amicus Brief in Illinois Rifle Ban Challenge,” The Volokh Conspiracy, June 16, 2025. | 2025 |
| “U.S. Seeking Cert on Prohibited Persons,” The Volokh Conspiracy, May 29, 2023. | 2023 |
| “The VanDerStok Argument,” The Volokh Conspiracy, October 10, 2024. | 2024 |
| “VanDerStok Tests Limits of Yet Another ATF Rule,” The Volokh Conspiracy, September 29, 2024. | 2024 |
| “The War Against Semi-Automatics,” 136 American Rifleman 40-41, 80, June 1988. | 1988 |
| “Washington Supreme Court Upholds Mag Ban,” The Volokh Conspiracy, May 14, 2025. | 2025 |
| “What Firearms Have ‘Common-Use’ Protections?,” America’s 1st Freedom, May 22, 2022. | 2022 |
| “What Makes a Gun a Gun?,” America’s 1st Freedom, Mar. 23, 2020. | 2020 |
| “What This U.S. Supreme Court Decision Will Mean for America,” America’s 1st Freedom, Aug. 24, 2022. | 2022 |
| “What Will the U.S. Supreme Court Decide?,” America’s 1st Freedom, Jan. 2, 2022. | 2022 |
| “When Is a Constitutional Right Not a Right?,” The Wall Street Journal, Nov. 2, 2021. | 2021 |
| “Will SCOTUS Hear This Crucial Case?,” America’s 1st Freedom, May 19, 2025. | 2025 |
| “Will the Second Amendment Survive Coronavirus?,” National Review, Mar. 30, 2020, and Independent Institute, Mar. 31, 2020. | 2020 |
| “Will We Be Allowed to Carry Our Freedom Where We Need It Most?,” America’s 1st Freedom, 28, August 2021, and Independent Institute, Mar. 31, 2020. | 2021 |