Duke Center for Firearms Law
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A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Developing Firearms Law as a Scholarly Field

The Duke Center for Firearms Law is dedicated to the development of firearms law as a scholarly field. It seeks to do so through the development and support of reliable, original, and insightful scholarship, research, and programming on firearms law that will be useful to lawyers, policy makers, and the interested layperson.

Teaching Resources & Sample Syllabi

Repository of Historical Gun Laws

Research Affiliate Program

In the News

Highlighted Video

Covid & Guns: A Conversation with Jeff Swanson

In this series, hosted by the Center for Firearms Law, we talk with experts on various aspects of firearms law & policy about the role of guns in the ongoing pandemic. This interview with Prof. Jeff Swanson discusses the potential for increased risks of firearm suicide during the pandemic.

The Positive Second Amendment: Rights, Regulation, and the Future of Heller (Cambridge University Press, 2018)

The Second Amendment is among the most recognized provisions of the Constitution. It is also perhaps the most misunderstood. Common misconceptions about the amendment – what it forbids, what it permits, how it functions as law – distort the gun debate and America’s constitutional culture. In The Positive Second Amendment, Blocher and Miller provide the first comprehensive post-Heller account of the history, theory, and law of the right to keep and bear arms.

In the News

Federal judge cites Blocher’s scholarship and Willinger’s blog posts in decision on New Jersey’s new concealed carry regulations

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Duke Law students and undergraduates present historical research on NC gun laws at forum bringing together differing viewpoints

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Willinger tells NPR the Bruen ruling prescribes “a more nuanced analysis” of historical restrictions on dangerous weapons

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Blocher’s forthcoming Originalism-by-Analogy and Second Amendment Adjudication is “highly recommended” by Legal Theory Blog

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