David Kopel, Author at Independence Institute

Rob on sabbatical leave 0
- Constitution
- May 16, 2020
Until mid-October, Rob Natelson will be on sabbatical leave.
READ MORE
National Popular Vote Violates the Colorado Constitution 0
- Issues
- September 5, 2020
According to the Colorado Constitution: “The general assembly shall provide that after the year eighteen hundred and seventy-six the electors of the electoral college shall be chosen by direct vote of the people.” The Colorado Constitution is the only state constitution that guarantees the right to the people to direct election of presidential electors. In 2019,
READ MORE
Self-Defense in the Jewish Tradition 0
- Guns, Video, Watch&Listen
- January 18, 2019
Second Amendment scholar Dave Kopel gave this speech, Self-Defense in the Jewish Tradition, at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs in October 2018.
READ MORE

In the wake of a gun ban, Venezuela sees rising homicide rate 0
- Guns, The Hill
- April 19, 2018
Since April 2017, at least 163 pro-democracy protesters in Venezuela have been murdered by the Maduro dictatorship. Venezuela serves as an example of how gun prohibition can sometimes encourage gun crime. In 2012, the communist-dominated Venezuelan National Assembly enacted the “Control of Arms, Munitions and Disarmament Law.” The bill’s stated objective was to “disarm all citizens.”
READ MORE
Gun ban for young adults would be wholly unconstitutional 0
- Guns, The Hill
- March 13, 2018
Besides violating the laws of some states and cities, firearms bans for young adults also violate the Constitution. In District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), the Supreme Court reiterated that “[c]onstitutional rights are enshrined with the scope they were understood to have when the people adopted them.” When the Second Amendment was adopted, there were no firearms restrictions on 18-to-20-year-olds, and they were included in every militia across the country.
READ MORE