Second Amendment Rights: Litigation & Legislation Update
Civil Rights Practice Group Podcast
Civil Rights Practice Group Podcast
The conclusion of the coming Supreme Court term will see the tenth anniversary of District of Columbia v. Heller, the Court’s landmark opinion confirming that a ban on registering handguns and a requirement to keep guns in the home disassembled or nonfunctional with a trigger lock mechanism violates the Second Amendment. Seven years have passed since the Court held in McDonald v. City of Chicago that the Fourteenth Amendment makes the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms for the purpose of self-defense applicable to the states. Yet the Court has since remained nearly silent on the subject, as the lower federal courts struggle to answer challenges to laws restricting who may have arms, the type of arms that might be had, and the gun-related activities in which people may engage. Alan Gura, the attorney who argued and won Heller and McDonald, reviewed the courts’ evolving approach to Second Amendment rights, and discussed the prospects for the eventual return of the right to keep and bear arms to One First Street.
Featuring:
Alan Gura, Partner, Gura PLLC
Vice President for Litigation, Institute for Free Speech
Alan joined the Institute for Free Speech as Vice President for Litigation in February 2021. In this role, Alan directs the Institute’s litigation and legal advocacy, leads our in-house legal team, and manages and works to expand our network of volunteer attorneys.
Prior to joining the Institute, Alan litigated complex federal matters for twenty years, in his own practice and as a partner in various Washington-area firms. He argued and won landmark constitutional cases in the United States Supreme Court and has appeared before numerous appellate and district courts throughout the country. Alan often speaks at law schools and continuing legal education seminars. He also teaches strategic/public interest litigation as an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center.
Alan began his career clerking for the Hon. Terrence W. Boyle, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina. He has also served as a Deputy Attorney General for the State of California, a litigation associate at the Washington office of Sidley Austin, and as counsel to the United States Senate Judiciary Committee.
Alan earned his J.D. at Georgetown (1995) and his B.A. at Cornell University (1992). He is an active member in good standing of the Virginia, District of Columbia, and California bars, the Bar of the United States Supreme Court, and various federal appellate and district court bars.