Second Amendment Cases After Bruen Part I: Prohibitions On Types of People and Types of Arms

Join David B. Kopel - Supreme Court litigator and Research Director of the Independence Institute - for an in-depth review of the Second Amendment since Bruen. The U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen affirmed the Second Amendment right to bear arms. Perhaps even more importantly, the Court told lower courts to decide Second Amendment cases the same way that the Supreme Court had decided the Heller case in 2008 and McDonald in 2010: based on the text and original meaning of the Second Amendment, as elucidated by legal history.

Since Bruen, many gun control laws have been held unconstitutional, while many others have been upheld. Some issues have generated conflicting opinions from different courts. This two-part case will survey the full scope of lower court decisions under Bruen.

Learning objectives:

1. Identify the types of persons who can be prohibited from keeping and bearing arms, including prohibitions based on criminal convictions, including misdemeanors; indictments; drug use; civil restraining orders; sealed records; and age

2. Break down criminal law issues, such as sentencing in Second Amendment cases

3. Analyze arms that are and are not protected by the Second Amendment