Duke Center for Firearms Law

Can the Right to Bear Arms Be Waived? | Duke Center for Firearms Law

Can the Right to Bear Arms Be Waived? firearmslaw.duke.edu/2025/11/can-...

Should Hemani be Decided as a Statutory Case? | Duke Center for Firearms Law

Does the Supreme Court's Hemani case, addressing the federal ban on unlawful drug users possessing guns, present problems under the canon of constitutional avoidance? Read on for more today on the blog...
firearmslaw.duke.edu/2025/11/shou...

SCOTUS Gun Watch - Week of 11/18/25 | Duke Center for Firearms Law

SCOTUS Gun Watch - Week of 11/18/25 firearmslaw.duke.edu/2025/11/scot...

An Interactive Database of Historical Public Carry Licensing Laws | Duke Center for Firearms Law

How did early American public carry licensing laws actually operate? Read on for more today on the blog, including an interactive database of 116 licensing rules enacted between 1866 and 1935... firearmslaw.duke.edu/2025/11/an-i...

SCOTUS Gun Watch - Week of 11/11/25 | Duke Center for Firearms Law

SCOTUS Gun Watch - Week of 11/11/25 firearmslaw.duke.edu/2025/11/scot...

Wolford and Door-to-Door Solicitation | Duke Center for Firearms Law

Today on the blog: how the Supreme Court's Wolford case implicates questions about 1st Amendment protection of speech on private property and why the justices should consider those comparisons. firearmslaw.duke.edu/2025/11/wolf...

SCOTUS Gun Watch - Week of 11/4/25 | Duke Center for Firearms Law

SCOTUS Gun Watch - Week of 11/4/25 firearmslaw.duke.edu/2025/11/scot...

SCOTUS Gun Watch - Week of 9/9/25 | Duke Center for Firearms Law

SCOTUS Gun Watch - Week of 9/9/25 firearmslaw.duke.edu/2025/09/scot...

A Multi-Sourced Approach to Exploring Historical Analogues of American Gun Regulation | Duke Center for Firearms Law

Today on the blog: the Center's undergraduate summer research assistants describe their experience digging into historical weapons regulation, enforcement, and historical context firearmslaw.duke.edu/2025/09/a-mu...

SCOTUS Gun Watch - Week of 9/2/25 | Duke Center for Firearms Law

SCOTUS Gun Watch - Week of 9/2/25 firearmslaw.duke.edu/2025/09/scot...

Litigation Highlight: First Circuit Hears Appeal in Challenge to Maine's New Waiting Period Law | Duke Center for Firearms Law

Guest author Margaret Groban analyzes the recent First Circuit oral argument in a case challenging Maine's new 72-hour waiting period law for gun purchases... firearmslaw.duke.edu/2025/08/liti...

How Are States Responding to VanDerStok? | Duke Center for Firearms Law

Today on the blog: after the Supreme Court's March decision upholding federal regulation of ghost guns, how have states sought to address the issue and why are constitutional arguments becoming more prominent in challenges to ghost-gun laws? firearmslaw.duke.edu/2025/08/how-...

SCOTUS Gun Watch - Week of 8/25/25 | Duke Center for Firearms Law

SCOTUS Gun Watch - Week of 8/25/25 firearmslaw.duke.edu/2025/08/scot...

Our First Second Amendment | Duke Center for Firearms Law

Today: in the final guest post from our works-in-progress conference hosted w/ the Wyoming Firearms Research Center, Leo Bernabei argues that First Amendment doctrine can and should inform Second Amendment law even post-Bruen. firearmslaw.duke.edu/2025/08/our-...

Now Open for Applicants: CSAH Fellowship Programmes Supporting Early-Career Arms Historians | Duke Center for Firearms Law

Of interest to firearms scholars: Apply now for the CFM Early-career Fellowship and the ARES Emerging Experts Fellowship, which support promising researchers in arms history. See the link for more details... firearmslaw.duke.edu/2025/08/now-...

SCOTUS Gun Watch - Week of 8/18/25 | Duke Center for Firearms Law

SCOTUS Gun Watch - Week of 8/18/25 firearmslaw.duke.edu/2025/08/scot...

Federalism and Firearms: How Brazil and the United States Define the Limits of State and Local Authority | Duke Center for Firearms Law

This new guest post by Brazilian attorney Antonio Pedro Machado compares the local dynamics of firearms regulation in the United States and Brazil - summarizing work presented at our recent WIP conference hosted w/the Wyoming Firearm Research Center. firearmslaw.duke.edu/2025/08/fede...

Beyond “Just-So” Stories: Do Firearms Laws Really Affect Gun Theft? | Duke Center for Firearms Law

In a new guest post today, K. Alexander Adams evaluates the impact of different regulatory approaches on gun theft - summarizing a paper he presented at our recent WIP conference hosted w/the University of Wyoming Firearms Research Center firearmslaw.duke.edu/2025/08/beyo...

2025 Firearms Law Works-in-Progress Conference in Laramie, Wyoming | Duke Center for Firearms Law

2025 Firearms Law Works-in-Progress Conference in Laramie, Wyoming
firearmslaw.duke.edu/2025/08/2025...

SCOTUS Gun Watch - Week of 8/11/25 | Duke Center for Firearms Law

SCOTUS Gun Watch - Week of 8/11/25 firearmslaw.duke.edu/2025/08/scot...

The F.F.L. “System”: An Economic Institution | Duke Center for Firearms Law

Today on the blog, Prof. Martin Edwards examines the Federal Firearm License system for gun sales and how its restrictions may reduce transaction costs - summarizing work presented at our recent WIP conference hosted w/the Wyoming Firearm Research Center firearmslaw.duke.edu/2025/08/the-...

SCOTUS Gun Watch - Week of 8/4/25 | Duke Center for Firearms Law

SCOTUS Gun Watch - Week of 8/4/25 firearmslaw.duke.edu/2025/08/scot...

The Firearm That Isn’t: Silencers and the “Loud Bang Theory” | Duke Center for Firearms Law

In a new post today, Tom Chittum traces the history of firearm silencers and examines why courts have excluded them from Second Amendment protection - summarizing work presented at our recent WIP conference hosted w/the Wyoming Firearm Research Center
firearmslaw.duke.edu/2025/08/the-...

An Emerging Trend: Mandatory Firearm Safety Instruction in K-12 Schools | Duke Center for Firearms Law

Some states have recently mandated gun safety training for all public school K-12 students. How will these classes operate, and might they face constitutional challenges from parents? Center RA Alison Riddoch explores these questions in a new post today... firearmslaw.duke.edu/2025/07/an-e...

Rethinking the Official Use Exemption: Firearms, Protective Orders, and the Police | Duke Center for Firearms Law

Today on the blog: Prof. Natalie Nanasi evaluates the logic of exempting law enforcement from federal statutes that bar domestic violence offenders from possessing guns, a guest post out of the Center's recent WIP conference w/ the Wyoming Firearm Research Center
firearmslaw.duke.edu/2025/07/unof...

SCOTUS Gun Watch - Week of 7/28/25 | Duke Center for Firearms Law

SCOTUS Gun Watch - Week of 7/28/25 firearmslaw.duke.edu/2025/07/scot...

A Positive Law Framework for Firearm Bans | Duke Center for Firearms Law

In the first post summarizing work presented at the Center's annual works-in-progress conference hosted w/the Wyoming Firearm Research Center in June, Andrew Nell proposes an alternative to the "common use" test for gun bans that looks to national consensus. firearmslaw.duke.edu/2025/07/a-po...

SCOTUS Gun Watch - Week of 7/21/25 | Duke Center for Firearms Law

SCOTUS Gun Watch - Week of 7/21/25 firearmslaw.duke.edu/2025/07/scot...

Scholarship Highlight: Age Restrictions and Michael Bellesiles | Duke Center for Firearms Law

Scholarship Highlight: Age Restrictions and Michael Bellesiles firearmslaw.duke.edu/2025/07/scho...

What Justice Thomas Gets Wrong About PLCAA’s Predicate Exception | Duke Center for Firearms Law

Gunmakers can be sued in tort when the claim is based on violating state or federal law - does the term "violation" require a separate finding of guilt or liability? Guest author Ryan Gerber @brooklynlawschool.bsky.social examines the issue today on the blog... firearmslaw.duke.edu/2025/07/what...