Gun Control After DC v. Heller
Thursday, April 8, 2010, Noon – 2:00 pm
Toll-Free Teleconference w/ Online Powerpoint
2.0 Live WA CLE Credits (Approved)
$99 first attorney ($79 per add'l att'y, same line)
In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court issued the most significant Second Amendment decision in its history – District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), which held that the right to bear arms is individual and personal. On September 30, 2009, the Supreme Court accepted certiorari on several gun control cases raising the issue of application of the Second Amendment to the States. The law of gun control is rapidly and fundamentally changing, and every informed citizen should tune in to find out what is happening. Can your neighbor keep a rocket-propelled grenade launcher? Must guns be allowed into the courthouse? What are the limits on the newly announced Second Amendment rights? What is the effect on Seattle’s recent efforts to regulate possession of firearms? This fascinating CLE will put you in the know on one of the most important and controversial legal issues of our time.
Faculty: Michael Schein, WSBA 21646, Appellate Litigator with Sullivan & Thoreson; Speakers’ bureau, ACLU of Washington; former adjunct Professor of American Legal History, Seattle University School of Law; Author of Just Deceits: A Historical Courtroom Mystery (Bennett & Hastings 2008).
Online registration is now closed - thank-you!
Note to registrants: About 48 hours prior to the teleconference, you will receive an email containing materials and instructions on how to join (if you register closer in time, then your email will arrive within a few hours after you have registered - yes, always in time for the CLE!). If you have any questions, please call 206-714-2782. Thank-you!
SCHEDULE
12:00 – 12:20 History & Law of Gun Control Prior to DC v. Heller (2008) – An examination of historical evidence used by both sides of the gun control debate, and earlier key precedents such as United States v. Miller and it progeny.
12:20 – 12:50 District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) and the Debate Over the Individual Right to Bear Arms – Does the “well-regulated militia” limit “the right of the people to keep and bear arms”? Is there a Constitutional right to keep a firearm for personal self-defense? If so (and the 5-4 majority says “yes”), what kind of arms are permissible?
12:50 – 1:20 McDonald v. Chicago (USSCt Docket 08-1521) – Does the 2nd Amendment Apply to States and Municipalities? – The established legal doctrine, as recently applied by now-Justice Sotomayor when she was on the Second Circuit, is that the 2nd Amendment is not among those fundamental rights incorporated by the 14th Amendment, and therefore it is not applicable to the States. But the Supreme Court has just accepted certiorari on several cases (headed by McDonald v. Chicago) which challenge this traditional view. What are the arguments for and against incorporation of the 2nd Amendment? Which side is likely to prevail, and why?
1:20 – 2:00 The Future of Permissible Gun Control – We examine the effects of DC v. Heller and a possible ruling for incorporation in McDonald v. Chicago on common types of regulation of firearms. We will focus on such questions as the continued validity of Brady Act-type regulations on commercial sales of firearms, denial of weapons to the mentally ill and felons, concealed weapons bans and limitations, prohibition in schools and government buildings, and how the gun control efforts of Seattle and other municipalities might fare in this changed legal environment.
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