"A report to the National Institute of Justice by Christopher S. Koper entitled An Updated Assessment of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban (2004) noted: `AWs [assault weapons] were used in only a small fraction of gun crimes prior to the ban: about 2% according to most studies and no more than 8%. Most of the AWs used in crime are assault pistols rather than assault rifles.`"
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"In a 2020 study, Professor Koper acknowledged what is obvious to anyone familiar with firearms—that so-called `AW [assault weapon]-type firearms do not operate differently than other comparable semiautomatics, nor do they fire more lethal ammunition.`”

From Halbrook, America`s Rifle: The Case for the AR-15, pgs. 294-295.
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#AmericasRifleTheCaseForTheAR15 #federalassaultweaponsban #assaultweaponsban #therightofthepeople #guncrimes ...

"Having found the carrying of a handgun in public to be encompassed textually in the right to `bear arms,` the Supreme Court in Bruen added that the historical record compiled by New York failed to demonstrate a tradition of broadly prohibiting the public carry of commonly used firearms for self-defense or of requiring citizens to demonstrate a special need for self-defense. It then inserted footnote 9 to that statement, explaining that `nothing in our analysis should be interpreted to suggest the unconstitutionality of the 43 States` "shall-issue" licensing regimes, under which `a general desire for self-defense is sufficient to obtain a [permit].` However, the Court warned that `because any permitting scheme can be put toward abusive ends, we do not rule out constitutional challenges to shall-issue regimes where, for example, lengthy wait times in processing license applications or exorbitant fees deny ordinary citizens their right to public carry.`

"In order to uphold restrictions not based on text or historical tradition, some lower courts have latched onto, and purported to find an expansive meaning in, footnote 9. The latest example is the Ninth Circuit`s September 22 en banc decision in Yukutake v. Lopez, which upheld Hawaii`s requirements that handgun purchasers obtain a handgun-acquisition permit that is void unless the purchase is completed in 30 days, and the handgun is presented for physical inspection within five days at the police station. The majority`s reliance on Bruen footnote 9 prompted a lengthy disquisition on the subject by Judge Ryan Nelson, joined by Judges Daniel Bress, Lawrence VanDyke, Bridget Bade, and Danielle Forrest.

"The following are some of the leading comments on footnote 9 in Judge Nelson`s dissent...."

The above excerpts are from my Second Amendment Roundup blog post, "Bruen`s Footnote 9 Not a Carve-Out from Text and History" (9/29/26).

Read the post at reason.com/volokh or copy and paste: https://reason.com/volokh/2026/09/29/second-amendment-roundup-bruens-footnote-9-not-a-carve-out-from-text-and-history/

Or go to the home page of my website.
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#YukutakeVLopez #nysrpavbruen #secondamendmentroundup #armedselfdefense ...

"Most states in the first half of the nineteenth century and beyond allowed open or concealed carry, and all states allowed open carry. The passage of prohibitions in a minority of states on carrying concealed weapons and the decisions thereon upholding open carry again proves that there was no recognized common law offense simply of going armed without more. It would have been unnecessary to restrict concealed carry if both concealed and open carry were already crimes under the common law. Moreover, other than the above Indiana decision [SEE CHAPTER 6], there were no decisions on the right to bear arms from courts in the North because, other than Indiana and Ohio, none of the Northern states had restrictions on the peaceable carrying of arms, concealed or openly.

"In sum, every citizen in every state could carry a firearm in public. In a minority of states, open carry was required. In most states, one could carry either openly or concealed. The right peaceably to bear arms was the rule and there were no complete prohibitions."

From Halbrook, The Right to Bear Arms: A Constitutional Right of the People or a Privilege of the Ruling Class?, p. 225 (hardback edition).

Painting: William Sidney Mount`s 1848 painting "At the Well" depicts the artist himself at a wayside well with a long rifle beside him.
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#therighttobeararmshalbrook #rightofthepeople #opencarry #concealedcarry #firearmslaws ...

"Liberty is always freedom from the government." Ludwig von Mises, Liberty and Property, p. 19.

Born on this day in 1881, Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises was an economist and social philosopher who wrote and lectured throughout the 20th century. A native of Lemberg, Austria-Hungary (now Lviv, Ukraine), he became one of the leading figures of the Austrian School of economics. His writings on liberty, private property, free markets, and the role of government continue to be widely read and debated today.
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#LudwigvonMises #vonmises #IndividualLiberty #ClassicalLiberalism #bornonthisdate ...

A successful hunt calls for a proud display. These women pose with their shotguns and the results of their bird hunt.    

Photo: circa 1900
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#womenhunters #vintagegunphoto #huntingwithshotguns #birdhunters #huntingisfun ...

John Jay and Alexander Hamilton "argued in The Federalist No. 29 that military establishments would not be a danger where `a large body of citizens, little if at all inferior to them in discipline and the use of arms,` were ready to defend their rights."  On this date in 1789, John Jay was officially nominated by George Washington to the position of Supreme Court Chief Justice.  The U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed Jay two days later, on September 26.

Quote from Halbrook, The Founders` Second Amendment, p. 235.  

#johnjay #chiefjusticejohnjay #supremecourtchiefjustice #supremecourthistory #onthisdayinhistory ...

"Designed by Benjamin Henry in 1860, the Henry rifle was a lever-action that held sixteen, .44 caliber cartridges in a tubular magazine. Working the lever would eject a fired case and load a new round in the chamber. The Henry design formed the basis of the iconic Winchester rifles that followed, such as the Model 1873, `The Gun That Won the West.`"

From Halbrook, America`s Rifle: The Case for the AR-15, p. 135 (photo and caption).

Photos: (top) Union soldier with 1860 Henry Repeating Rifle; (bottom) from America`s Rifle, p. 135.
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#leveraction #Henryrifle #HenryLeverActionRifle #44caliber #AmericasRifleTheCaseForTheAR15 ...

Today is the first day of fall here in the United States. This season means more than just changing leaves. For generations of American hunters, fall has meant heading into the woods as hunting seasons opened.

Regulations governing deer hunting date back nearly four centuries. In 1646, Portsmouth, Rhode Island, prohibited the killing of deer from May 1 through November 1. Other colonies soon enacted similar restrictions as deer populations declined.

"English journalist William Cobbett, who came to the United States in 1792, wrote: `As to game-laws, there are none, except those which appoint the times for killing. People go where they like, and, as to wild animals, shoot what they like.`"

By the 18th century, laws regulating when deer could be hunted had become an established part of efforts to protect America`s game populations.

Cobbett quote from Halbrook, The Founders` Second Amendment: Origins of the Right to Bear Arms, pgs. 187-88.
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#firstdayofautumn #deerhuntingseason #timetogohunting #huntingtradition #thefounderssecondamendment ...