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Series

Faculty Scholarship

2021

Firearms--Law and legislation

Law and Society

Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Law

When Guns Threaten The Public Sphere: A New Account Of Public Safety Regulation Under Heller, Joseph Blocher, Reva B. Siegel Jan 2021

When Guns Threaten The Public Sphere: A New Account Of Public Safety Regulation Under Heller, Joseph Blocher, Reva B. Siegel

Faculty Scholarship

Government regulates guns, it is widely assumed, because of the death and injuries guns can inflict. This standard account is radically incomplete—and in ways that dramatically skew constitutional analysis of gun rights. As we show in an account of the armed protesters who invaded the Michigan legislature in 2020, guns can be used not only to injure but also to intimidate. The government must regulate guns to prevent physical injuries and weapons threats in order to protect public safety and the public sphere on which a constitutional democracy depends.

For centuries the Anglo-American common law has regulated weapons not only …


Two Concepts Of Gun Liberty, Joseph Blocher Jan 2021

Two Concepts Of Gun Liberty, Joseph Blocher

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


Pointing Guns, Joseph Blocher, Samuel W. Buell, Jacob D. Charles, Darrell A. H. Miller Jan 2021

Pointing Guns, Joseph Blocher, Samuel W. Buell, Jacob D. Charles, Darrell A. H. Miller

Faculty Scholarship

The American gun debate is increasingly populated with scenes of people pointing and otherwise displaying guns. What is the legal regime governing gun displays, and how well can it address the distinct social and legal problems they pose? In this Essay, we argue that the current structure of criminal law does not supply clear rules of conduct sufficient to avoid the negative effects of gun displays, and that the rhetorical and expressive effects of Second Amendment debates threaten to make the situation worse. We also suggest how the legal rules might be improved, and how battles over norms—as much as …