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Stephen Halbrook Christmas Special. Kopel interviews Stephen Halbrook, the leading legal defender of the Second Amendment over the last three decades. Dec. 17, 2009. 53 minutes. MP3.

A Very Gura Christmas. Kopel interviews the young jedi Alan Gura about McDonald v. Chicago. Dec. 7, 2009. 50 minutes. MP3.

Jon Caldara and Kopel discuss the Independence Institute's Supreme Court amicus brief in McDonald v. Chicago. Dec. 1, 2009. Podcast.

McDonald v. Chicago: Is the 2nd Amendment Incorporated in the 14th Amendment? An explanation of the basic constitutional issues in the case. Nov. 18, 2009. MP3.

Aiming for Liberty: Dave Kopel's New Book. Oct. 16, 2009, 11 minutes.

New Challenge to McCain-Feingold. Kopel explains the Citizens United case, and the Supreme Court's oral argument, to Jon Caldara. Sept. 15, 2009. 11:16.

Video:

Aiming for Liberty on Independent Thinking. Kopel and Caldara discuss Kopel's new book. KBDI channel 12 TV, Denver. 1/2 hour. Nov. 27, 2009. YouTube. Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. Playlist.

Ari Armstrong interviews Kopel at the Independence Institute's 25 anniversary dinner, about the long-term role of the Independence Institute. Nov. 19, 2009. 7 minutes. YouTube.

Kenya proposes execution of gun owners. NRA News, Nov. 15, 2009. 7:39. YouTube.

The Second Amendment in the Supreme Court. Kopel speaks to the Global General Gathering of the Triple 9 Society, and explains the upcoming Supreme Court case on whether the Fourteenth Amendment makes the Second Amendment applicable to state and local governments. Sept. 6, 2009. 86 minutes, video. Watch. Download mp4.

New Book!

Kopel's new book, Aiming for Liberty: The Past, Present, And Future of Freedom and Self-Defense, is now available for on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.

Top rankings so far: #1 at Amazon in the Gun Control category, and #1 in Civil Rights.

TV show about the book. Part 1. Part 2. Part 3.

Podcast on the book. Oct. 16, 2009, 11 minutes.

Reviews: Alphecca. Bore Patch. Snowflakes in Hell, part 2.

In the Courts

*****Kopel's amicus brief in the Supreme Court case McDonald v. Chicago. (The link takes you to the abstract page. From there, click, the "Download" button, then click the location from which you would like to download.)

Jon Caldara and Kopel discuss the Independence Institute's Supreme Court amicus brief in McDonald v. Chicago. Dec. 1, 2009. Podcast.

Josh Blackman interviews Kopel about the Supreme Court brief. Nov. 23, 2009. Podcast.

Kopel cited by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, United States v. Skoien (Nov. 18, 2009).

The Supreme Court Takes on Guns, Again. Reason.com. By
Brian Doherty, Oct. 1, 2009. Kopel explains some details on the cert. grant.

Kopel cited by Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. United States v. McCane, No. 08-6235 (July 28, 2009). Concurring opinion by Judge Tymkovich.

Kopel's testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, regarding the Second Amendment record of Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Written testimony in PDF (much longer than the oral testimony). Video of Kopel's testimony to the Committee, July 16, 2009, C-Span.

Latest short articles

What's that Smell? Nearly everyone has heard of the corruption-plagued organization ACORN. Yet many gun owners are unaware of the organization’s strong anti-gun activities and ties. America's 1st Freedom, Dec. 2009.

OSHEESH! How President Obama’s latest anti-gun appointee—proposed OSHA Director David Michaels—could place sweeping restrictions on your Right to Keep and Bear Arms. America's 1st Freedom. November 2009.

From Bad To Worse. Book reviews of Lethal Logic: Exploding the Myths that Paralyze American Gun Policy by Dennis A. Henigan & Guns, Democracy, and the Insurrectionist Idea by Joshua Horwitz & Casey Anderson. America's 1st Freedom. October 2009.

Will the Supreme Court Set Speech Free? The Supreme Court, censorship of political speech, and the case of Citizens United v. FEC. America's 1st Freedom. America's 1st Freedom. September 2009.

The Guns of Sudan. Gun confiscation in South Sudan makes a bad situation for human rights even worse. The New Ledger. July 7, 2009. With Paul Gallant & Joanne D. Eisen.

Guns in Parks: The Hoplophobes’ Travel Guide to the United States. The New Ledger. May 29, 2009.

Respecting States’ Wishes. Short essay on the new law allowing guns in National Parks. New York Times, "Room for Debate" on-line feature. May 22, 2009.

Latest Monographs & Journal articles

The Right to Arms in the Living Constitution. 2010 Cardozo Law Review de Novo 99.

The Keystone of the Second Amendment: Quakers, the Pennsylvania Constitution, and the Questionable Scholarship of Nathan Kozuskanich. 19 Widener Law Journal (2010, forthcoming). With Clayton Cramer.

Connecting Laypeople with the Law through Blogs. Denver University Law Review DUProcess, Oct. 19, 2009. Part of the symposium Legal Scholarship in the Internet Age.

The Arms Trade Treaty: Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Prospects for Arms Embargoes on Human Rights Violators. 114 Penn State Law Review (no. 3, 2010, forthcoming). With Paul Gallant & Joanne D. Eisen. At the end of this document: En français, une version de 8 pages de ce document est disponible en français. En español, el extracto está disponible en español.

Pretend "Gun-free" School Zones: A Deadly Legal Fiction. 42 Connecticut Law Review (no. 1, 2009, forthcoming). PDF.

Unofficial English translation of Mexican Federal Laws on Firearms and Explosives.

The Second Amendment in the Tenth Circuit: Three Decades of (Mostly) Harmless Error.   86 Denver University Law Review 901 (2009). In the annual Tenth Circuit Survey. PDF.

Unraveling Judicial Restraint: Guns, Abortion, and the Faux Conservatism of J. Harvie Wilkinson, III. 25 Journal of Law & Politics (University of Virginia) (forthcoming 2009). Critique of 4th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Wilkinson's Virginia Law Review article asserting the D.C. v. Heller is a 21st century version of Roe v. Wade. With Nelson Lund.

Poisoned Milk and the Poisoning of Democracy: Some Cautions about China Trade and Taiwan Sovereignty. Paper presented at the symposium “Taiwan’s New Approach: Opportunities and Challenges for President Ma Ying-jeou’s Government.” International House, University of Chicago, October 24, 2008. PDF.

The Natural Right of Self-defense: Heller's Lesson for the World. Symposium issue on the Heller case. 59 Syracuse Law Review 235 (2008).

Pacifist-Aggressives vs. the Second Amendment: An Analysis of Modern Philosophies of Compulsory Non-violence. 3 Charleston Law Review 1 (2008).

Christian Pacifism Before Constantine. Working paper. June 12, 2008. Much recent scholarship on early Christianity has emphasized the diversity of early Christian thought. This Paper presents evidence of diversity on early Christian belief and practice on the issue of pacifism. Notably, the diversity is found within orthodox Christianity itself. The claims of some modern writers that pre-Constantinian orthodox Christians were virtually unanimously pacifist are not correct. In fact, some but not all of the early Patristic writers were pacifists. A significant number of Christians, including saints, served in the Roman army. The Paper discusses the following writers: Justin Martyr, Marcion, Irenaeus, Athenagoras, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Hippolytus, Julius Africanus, Origen, Cyprian, Arnobius, and Lactantius, and also examines other sources of information about the early church.

Taiwan's Presidential Elections: An Analysis of What Happened, and What May Happen Next. Independence Institute Issue Paper. April 2008. PDF. Examining how KMT candidate Ma Ying-Jeou won the election in part because of his strong defense of Taiwan's sovereignty and his appeal to Taiwan's growing national consciousness. The Issue Paper also analyzes the two referenda on UN membership.

"Is There a Relationship between Guns and Freedom? Comparative Results from 59 Nations." 13 Texas Review of Law & Politics 1 (2008). With Carl E. Moody & Howard Nemerov. There are 59 nations for which data about per capita gun ownership are available. This Working Paper examines the relationship between gun density and several measures of freedom and prosperity: the Freedom House ratings of political rights and civil liberty, the Transparency International Perceived Corruption Index, the World Bank Purchasing Power Parity ratings, and the Heritage Foundation Index of Economic Freedom. The data suggest that the relationships between gun ownership rates and these other measures are complex. The data show that (although exceptions can be found) the nations with the highest rates of gun ownership tend to have greater political and civil freedom, greater economic freedom and prosperity, and much less corruption than other nations. The relationship only exists in for high-ownership countries. Countries with medium rates of gun density generally scored no better or worse than countries with the lowest levels of gun rates.

"Evolving Christian attitudes towards personal and national self-defense." Working paper. Nov. 27. Analyzes changes in Christian thought about the use of force, from the 19th to the 21st century. PDF.

"Human Rights and Gun Confiscation." 26 Quinnipiac Law Review 383 (2008). PDF. With Paul Gallant & Joanne D. Eisen. Examines human rights abuses in gun confiscation programs in Kenya and Uganda, and in South Africa's quasi-confiscatory licensing law. Also provides the most complete collection ever presented of international survey data about why people in various countries own guns.

"Dhimmitude and Disarmament." 18 George Mason University Civil Rights Law Journal 305 (2008). PDF.

"The Human Right of Self-Defense." 22 BYU Journal of Public Law 43 (2008). David Kopel, Paul Gallant & Joanne D. Eisen. PDF.

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Pусский/Russian. Массачусетс угрожает реформам Обамы. Massachusetts Senate special election. 16.01.2010. MP3.

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Archives

Newspaper and magazine articles, 2007 to the present.

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Kopel's Corner Weblog

"Good legal scholarship was absolutely crucial to this outcome. No justice is capable of producing the historical research and analysis upon which Justice Scalia relied. Brilliant as it was in its execution, his opinion rested on the work of many scholars of the Second Amendment, as I am sure he would be the first to acknowledge. ...

Due to the political orthodoxy among most constitutional law professors, some of the most important and earliest of this scholarship was produced by nonacademics like Don Kates, Stephen Halbrook, David Kopel, Clayton Cramer and others."

Randy E. Barnett, News Flash: The Constitution Means What It Says, Wall Street Journal, June 27, 2008, page A13.

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Great website: JerryKopel.com. My father's essays on Colorado and national politics, based on his 22 years of service as a Colorado State Representative.

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