Firearms Policy Scholar David Kopel on Fallout from the SCOTUS 'Ghost Gun' Ruling. The Reload. Mar. 30, 2025.

Why Gun Free Zones Attract Killers. And extensive discussion of modern antisemitism. Devil's Advocate with Jon Caldara. PBS Channel 12/IITV. 44 mins.

New

Refereeing the Debate over the 2021 National Firearms Survey. Critics of Prof. William English's survey sometimes miss the mark, but also raise valid questions. Reason/Volokh Conspiracy. Sept. 22, 2025.

The Dean of Gun Lobbyists. John Snyder’s Oral History. Reason/Volokh Conspiracy. Sept. 22, 2025.

David Kopel Makes the Oxford English Dictionary Examples. Reason/Volokh Conspiracy. Sept. 20, 2025.

United States v. Peterson. No. 24-30043. Amicus brief of National Rifle Association, American Suppressor Association, and Independence Institute in support of petition for rehearing en banc (5th Cir., Sept. 17. 2025). If suppressors are Second Amendment arms, then registration is unconstitutional.

Suncor Energy v. County Commissioners of Boulder County. No. 25-170, 2025 WL 2664308. Amicus brief of Frontier Institute, Independence Institute, Pelican Institute, and Manhattan Institute in support of cert. petition. (U.S. Sup. Ct., Sept. 11, 2025). Colorado local governments cannot use local tort suits to control national energy policy.

John Snyder: An Oral History of the Dean of Washington Gun Lobbyists. (U. Wyo.) Firearms Research Center, Working Paper No. 2025-7.

CO Gun Activists Reject Trump Admin’s Plan to Ban Trans People From Owning Firearms. Colorado Times Recorder, Sept. 8, 2025. James O'Rourke.

Short articles

Refereeing the Debate over the 2021 National Firearms Survey. Critics of Prof. William English's survey sometimes miss the mark, but also raise valid questions. Reason/Volokh Conspiracy. Sept. 22, 2025.

The Dean of Gun Lobbyists. John Snyder’s Oral History. Reason/Volokh Conspiracy. Sept. 22, 2025.

Turning Credit Cards into Comprehensive Financial Surveillance. New laws on interchange fees will transform credit card payments into detailed government-accessible records of every item purchased, including firearms. Reason/Volokh Conspiracy. July 14, 2025.

Colorado Supreme Court nullified consent of the governed. Here’s how. ‘The plain text of the Colorado Constitution has in effect been replaced by the court’s lawless imposition of a rational basis test that legalizes precisely what the Colorado Constitution was enacted to forbid’. (Aurora) Sentinel. July 8, 2025.

In the Media

David Kopel Makes the Oxford English Dictionary Examples. Reason/Volokh Conspiracy. Sept. 20, 2025.

CO Gun Activists Reject Trump Admin’s Plan to Ban Trans People From Owning Firearms. Colorado Times Recorder, Sept. 8, 2025. James O'Rourke.

Analysis: Legal Experts See Tough Climb for New Lawsuit Against the National Firearms Act. The Reload. July11, 2025. Stephen Gutowski.

Television, Radio, Podcasts 

Colorado Inside Out. Sept. 12, 2025. Charlie Kirk assassination evokes declining years of the Roman Republic, because some in the Left are part of murderous social contagion. Schools ought to protected by armed adults; Israel stopped school shootings with that policy. State law providing for release of the criminally insane is dangerous, but state government refuses to provide proper funding for mental institutions for such people. Barbara Kirkmeyer will be a strong Republican candidate for governor. Proposed new Broncos stadium, unlike the current one, won't be funding by welfare from the taxpayers. Worst thing: Misnamed "Southern Poverty Law Center" provides list of conservatives to target, including Charlie Kirk. Best thing: Charlie Kirk's words about staying grounded.

Colorado Inside Out. Aug. 12, 2025. Colorado forest fires aggravated by a century of mismanagement by U.S. Forest Service and Colorado state government. ICE facility in Aurora illegally altered premises before congressional visit. Congressional private bill for illegal alien criminal Jeannette Vizguerra would take a place from a law-abiding immigrant. Dem. primary challenger to Rep. Diana Degette by Melat Kiros is shallow and stupidly grandiose. The mediocre Cherry Creek and Poudre school districts' wage war on excellence by refusing to recognize excellent students. Worst thing: Terrible new anti-choice Colo. law prohibiting abortion reversal pills held unconstitutional. Best: College football starting, a refuge from depressing political news.

Why Gun Free Zones Attract Killers. And extensive discussion of modern antisemitism. Devil's Advocate with Jon Caldara. PBS Channel 12/IITV. July 3, 2025. 44 mins.

Colorado Inside Out. May 30, 2025. Colorado River conflicts caused by California taking too much water, and by bad forest management by Colorado causing over-vegetation. Colorado NPR stations lawsuit against end of congressional funding is weak; Colorado Public Radio is narrowcasting for leftists who only want to hear their own side. Denver Public School has been violating the Constitution to take on secret debt without public notice or vote. Ridiculous proposal for a super-expensive bad art bridge over Lincoln Street. Worst thing: Colorado XX athletic company makes women's sporting clothing, and has sued against unconstitutional Colorado statute saying that businesses must pretend that men who dress in women's apparel are women. Best thing: U.S. Senate Republicans beginning grow a spine against fiscally reckless spending bill.

David Kopel Talks About What’s Really Behind Mexico’s Lawsuit. America's 1st Freedom. May 14, 2024. 11:34.

Colorado's Semiauto Ban. Guns and Ammo TV. May 2, 2025. 13 minutes.

State-Trained Shooters. Kopel explains Colo. SB25-003, imposing a harsh permitting system for acquiring modern firearms. And the long-running culture war against gun owners. Independence Institute TV. Apr. 16, 2025. 53 min.

Latest Monographs & Journal articles

John Snyder: An Oral History of the Dean of Washington Gun Lobbyists. (U. Wyo.) Firearms Research Center, Working Paper No. 2025-7.

Big Business as Gun Control. 129 Dickinson Law Review 851 (2025). With George A. Mocsary and Bhav Ninder Singh. Covers and examines possible solutions for debanking, financial blacklisting, New York's egregious abuses, disclosure of private banking information, merchant credit codes, and censorship by social media giants.

Negating Democratic Consent: How the Colorado Supreme Court has Nullified Colorado Constitutional Limits on Taxes, Debt, and Corporate Privilege. 102 Denver Univ. Law Review 449 (2025).

Machine Gun History and Bibliography. 25 Wyoming Law Review 45 (2025).

The Social Cost of Nullifying the Right to Arms: The Case of Mexico. 62 South Texas Law Review 137 (2025). With Joseph G.S. Greenlee and Bhav Ninder Singh.

The History of Bans on Types of Arms Before 1900. Including handguns, Bowie knives, daggers, slungshots, brass knuckles, cannons and more. 50 Journal of Legislation 223 (Notre Dame) (2024). With Joseph G.S. Greenlee.

Restoring the right to bear arms: New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen. In 2021-22 Cato Supreme Court Review (Trevor Burrus ed., Sept. 16, 2022).

Guns Kill People, and Tyrants with Gun Monopolies Kill the Most. 25 Gonzaga Journal of International Law 20 (2021).

Red Flag Laws: Proceed with Caution. 45 (Alabama) Law & Psychology Review 39 (2021).

In the Courts and Legislatures

United States v. Peterson. No. 24-30043. Amicus brief of National Rifle Association, American Suppressor Association, and Independence Institute in support of petition for rehearing en banc (5th Cir., Sept. 17, 2025). If suppressors are Second Amendment arms, then registration is unconstitutional.

Suncor Energy v. County Commissioners of Boulder County. No. 25-170, 2025 WL 2664308. Amicus brief of Frontier Institute, Independence Institute, Pelican Institute, and Manhattan Institute in support of cert. petition. (U.S. Sup. Ct., Sept. 11, 2025). Colorado local governments cannot use local tort suits to control national energy policy.

Written testimony on semiauto long gun ban. Colorado Senate State Affairs Committee. Senate State Affairs Committee.