Stephen Halbrook has been engaged in civil litigation and criminal defense since 1978. Member of Virginia State Bar, District of Columbia Bar, U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Courts of Appeals - all circuits, other federal courts. Testified in U.S. Senate and House Committees on numerous firearm bills and on the nominations of executive branch and Supreme Court nominees. Georgetown University Law Center, J.D. (1978); Florida State University, Ph.D. Philosophy (1972). Assistant Professor of Philosophy 1972-81, George Mason University, Howard University, Tuskegee University. Senior Fellow, The Independent Institute. Writes for The Volokh Conspiracy. See website http://stephenhalbrook.com.
Argued and won Castillo v. U.S., 530 U.S. 120 (2000); Printz v. U.S., 521 U.S. 898 (1997); U.S. v. Thompson/Center Arms Co., 504 U.S. 505 (1992). Co-counsel in Small v. U.S., 544 U.S. 385 (2005), and for NRA in McDonald v. Chicago, 561 U.S. 742 (2010). Counsel for amici curiae 55 Senators and 250 Representatives in D.C. v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008).
Books authored:
America’s Rifle: The Case for the AR-15
The Right to Bear Arms: A Constitutional Right of the People or Privilege of the Ruling Class?
Firearms Law Deskbook: Federal and State Criminal Practice
Gun Control in Nazi-Occupied France: Tyranny and Resistance
Gun Control in the Third Reich: Disarming the Jews and “Enemies of the State”
The Founders’ Second Amendment. Cited in McDonald v. Chicago.
Securing Civil Rights: Freedmen, the Fourteenth Amendment, and the Right to Bear Arms. Cited in McDonald v. Chicago and DC v. Heller.
That Every Man Be Armed: The Evolution of a Constitutional Right. Cited in Printz v. U.S.
Target Switzerland: Swiss Armed Neutrality in World War II
Articles (selected):
“How a Fake Citation Misled Courts to Uphold ‘Sensitive Place’ Gun Bans,” 2 Jour. of Law & Civil Governance, No. 2 (2026) (forthcoming).
“The Power to Tax, The Second Amendment, & the Search for Which ‘“Gangster” Weapons’ to Tax,” 25 Wyoming Law Review 149 (2025).
“Textualism, the Gun Control Act, and ATF’s Redefinition of ‘Firearm,’” Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy: Per Curiam, No. 31, 1 (Summer 2024).
“The Meaning of ‘Firearm’ and ‘Frame or Receiver’ in the Federal Gun Control Act: The ATF’s 2022 Final Rule in Light of Text, Precedent, and History,” SSRN, Sept. 18, 2024.
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