2nd Amendment Event - Check it Out

The Federalist Society's Civil Rights Practice Group and The Cato Institute's Center for Constitutional Studies
present:
The Future of the Right to Keep
and Bear Arms

For more upcoming events: Click here
The Federalist Society
1015 18th Street, N.W.
Suite 425
Washington, D.C. 20036
Tel: (202) 822-8138
Fax: (202) 296-8061
www.fed-soc.org



In 2008, for the first time in our history, the Supreme Court invoked the Second Amendment to strike down a gun control law, holding that the federal government may not prohibit law abiding citizens from keeping a handgun in the home for self defense. In 2010, the Court held that state and local governments are also prohibited from banning handguns in the home. Major victories for individual liberty, those decisions were also very narrow. Can we expect future decisions to recognize a wide range of rights to keep and bear arms? Or will the Court's recent decisions turn out to be mostly symbolic, with little effect on legislative discretion to regulate access to firearms? Please join us for a discussion of opposing views about what the courts are likely to do and what they should do.

Panel featuring:

* Mr. Alan Gura, Gura & Possessky, P.L.L.C.

* Mr. Dennis Henigan, Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence

* Prof. Nelson Lund, George Mason University School of Law

* Prof. Alan B. Morrison, The George Washington University Law School

* Dr. Roger Pilon, Center for Constitutional Studies, Cato Institute, Moderator


Details:
Thursday, January 20, 2011
12:00 noon
(Lunch to follow)
Cato Institute
1000 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
Washington D.C. 20001-5403


Lunch will be provided.
There is no charge for this event.
Please RSVP by Wednesday, January 19, as seating is limited.

Click here to RSVP online

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Thought you boys and girls would be interested in this event and some might even attend.

Wow, it's free too. Wish I could but I have a prior commitment that day.

Wow.

Right in the middle of the SHOT show...

If I didn't have school, I'd be there in a heartbeat.

Man, I may take a day off for that...

Patrick said:

Wow.

Right in the middle of the SHOT show...

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If the SHOT show wasn't in Las Vegas, I'd encourage everyone to go there (as if encouragement was needed). However, since we are not privileged enough to have the SHOT show here, this will have to do.

This is very, very tempting and thanks for the heads up!

I need to clear this with my boss on Monday, but I should be good to go with him, and if I am I'll definitely attend.

1/20 is one day before (Jan 21) the Plaintiff Amended Complaint is due in Woollard. I might have to ask if they would like me to drop it off for them....

I've always wanted to see a pro-2A v Brady kind of Forum.

The direct link btw is: http://www.fed-soc.org/events/id.2942/event_detail.asp

I tried registering for the event, but I don't know if it went through or not because my browser sucks.

For those of you who've signed up, how long did it take you to receive a confirmation email?

Panel featuring:

* Mr. Alan Gura, Gura & Possessky, P.L.L.C.

* Mr. Dennis Henigan, Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence
* Prof. Nelson Lund, George Mason University School of Law

* Prof. Alan B. Morrison, The George Washington University Law School

* Dr. Roger Pilon, Center for Constitutional Studies, Cato Institute, Moderator

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Spot77 said:

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"Fair and balanced"

Spot77 said:

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I think its great...I'll have to think up some "nice" questions for Mr. Henigan
1) What is the strategy once "in the home" is debunked?
2) Have you had to accept a pay cut?
3) Do you ever feel like you're slipping into irrelevance?

Honestly, the "debate" should be interesting, albeit one sided.

Spot77 said:

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It said a discussion of opposing views.

Update and perhaps a friendly 'bump' on this event, Thursday Jan 20th at noon in DC at the Cato Institute.

Reservations ARE required and space is supposedly limited. I was able to do this earlier today, so they're not filled yet....

http://www.fed-soc.org/events/id.2942/event_detail.asp

Damnation. I wanted to go to this.

If one of you goes, be sure to post how it was.

I went to the event today.

It was interesting and I wish I would've taken notes, but I was running late and forgot to grab a notebook from home. Here's what I remember off the top of my head.

It was what you would normally expect, with Dennis Henigan from the Brady Campaign spewing nonsense statistics as usual. There were only a few statistics he brought up, which are as follows:

• Communities with high firearm ownership have higher crime rates than communities with low firearm ownership
• Having a gun makes you 5x more likely to commit suicide
• Homes with firearms are more likely to have injuries from said firearms than homes with no firearms
• 1.9 million felons have been stopped from purchasing firearms due to background checks that the Brady Campaign helped make law

If that wasn't enough, he actually went as far as to say that if the Safeway in the Tucson, AZ shooting had been a gun-free zone, the shooting would've never occurred. Yes, he actually said a gun-free zone sign would've prevented the shooting from happening

Alan Morrison was also in attendance. For those of you who don't know, he was the lead lawyer in the Heller vs DC case, until he was fired. Mr. Morrison actually admitted that although he was going to be defending DC in the case, he knew there was absolutely no chance the district was going to win Keep in mind this guy is no rookie. He's argued cases before the Supreme Court 20 times. For him to say that he knew from the beginning that DC had no chance really tells you something about how the antis' side is doing.

Alan Gura spoke on past and present litigation, similar to this here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52_27JeI9YY

It's obvious that he's frustrated by the novices filing 2nd Amendment lawsuits, especially as a last resort in the defense of criminals, because it's counter-productive to his efforts . Someone in the audience also asked how a restriction on magazine capacity would pass a constitutional challenge. Gura responded saying that it wouldn't, but unfortunately I can't remember his reasoning (here's why I wish I would've brought something to take notes). Hopefully someone else in attendance can chime in. Mr. Morrison complimented Gura in the same manner that I've seen Patrick and Krucam do - Morrison admits that Gura is a smart man with a strategic legal plan of attack

One of the highlights of the event, IMO, is when guests in attendance were allowed to speak: a person in the crowd said that as a young woman, she sure felt a lot safer with AZ's gun laws than DC's. This brought an uproar of applauses.

I also spoke to Mr. Gura personally at the end of the event, when we went upstairs for food. I thanked him on behalf of myself, MSI, and MDShooters. I told him that we definitely appreciate his efforts and that he has our full support. He told me that he's very hopeful for the Wollard case after the 4th circuit ruiling, that he browses the forums sometimes, and that he thanks all of you guys

Wow! That sounded like a pretty awesome event. Wish I could have been there. I used to go to all the Fed Soc events but, of late, I've found little time for them. I'm glad that someone was able to go and represent. :thumbsup

That does sound awesome. Wish I could have been there.

It's cool that Gura stops in to MDShooters once in a while. I wonder if he's got a screen name incognito? Should have asked him how he feels about having so many man-groupies.

Anyone got a video feed yet. I would love to see it.

That's for the bits and pieces guys.

And Mr. Gura, .

Walter did a fine job with his write up, I'll probably repeat much of what he said, as he covered a lot...

I got there 20 minutes before the event and was asked to move to the front (illusion of full crowd). I could have sat in row 1, 5 feet from the panel. I opted for a more comfortable row 3, directly in front of Gura. As the seats filled in, I heard a loud person talking anti talking points (reasonable regulations, tougher background checks) with a gentleman directly behind me (Robert Cottroll) who told this Brady (found out later) that if "Donald Trump can get a permit, so should I". Had to smile...

The place filled up nicely at noon, easily 100+ people there. They said that CSPAN was recording but I can't find it. The workers said it would be on the cato.org website, but I can't find it...

Each of the 4 speakers was given 10 minutes, followed by a 3 minute rebuttal.

Gura went first. Much of what he said is now "old hat", but a recurring theme he's now throwing out is that of "arm chair constitutionalists" bring up bad cases. There are a few of them out there. He also cautioned about "individuals on the fringe becoming the face of the Second Amendment movement".

Henigan (Bradys) was next. He came out firing ...
- We can't keep this discussion only on Constitutional Issues. (guess, cause they're losing that battle)
- AZ laws protected Loughner all the way until he pulled the trigger. (hi-cap mags, NCIS, no permit CCW)
- Tuscon Safeway was not a Gun Free Zone.
- Heller does not recognize a right to bear arms outside the home. (like that is the only case shaping the attack...)
- Scalia in Heller recognizes laws are presumptively legal...then he tries to be funny when he said, "Heller & McDonald, instead of being a shotgun, have been more like a pop gun"...bada-ba...but wait, he's just getting warmed up
- Recent rulings putting 2A analysis along the same lines as previous 1A analysis is in error (he's afraid of it). He then said, no kidding, "Sticks and Stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt me" as his basis for not tying 2A analysis to 1A.

Mr Lund from GMU was next. He came across as an anti, or at least not a fan of Justice Scalia.
- He was non stop ripping Scalia's historic/originalist writings in Heller. "If he was being Originalists, how did he then jump to modern handguns in the home?"
- He said that Heller was not true to the reading of the 2A. He called it "An embarassment".
- He predicts "More poorly reasoned cases are yet to come".
- Joked about the McDonald Orals where Gura got stomped down by Scalia for bringing up Priviliges or Immunities. There may have been a tone of sorrow there.
- He also reiterated Henigans comments that the 1A is NOT analagous to the 2A. He then finished up saying that he is for the Second Amendment, he is just anti-Heller...
I can only hope, that if he is pro-2A, he doesn't try helping us out...Clearly, someone who has spent too much time in Academia.

I can't find my "notes" for Mr Morrison from GWU. He wasn't too bad. He really went into the shotgun/rifle maybe being protected for the home, but not handguns.

Regarding Gura's response to magazines capacity laws....he said they would probably be unconstitutional because of the 'common use' test. Military & Police carry semi auto guns with 15-17 rounds. 10 rounds seems arbitrary and probably wouldn't stand scrutiny.

The girl from AZ was directly in front of me in row 2. "I feel safer in AZ than I do here in DC". She is a reporter for townhall.com but I've not been able to find a write up.

Video for this is now out, thanks to CSPAN for those who want to listen...they have all 90+ minutes of it, so grab some coffee...

You'll see me at the 0:03 (3-5 second) mark, thin light brown-haired, old, white dude with glasses (costume I put on so I don't stick out in public), 3 rows in front of Gura.

It WAS a great event, I encourage listening to it as you have time.

Thanks to Gene Hoffman for digging it up.

http://wwww.c-spanvideo.org/program/297621-1