Policy Forum 

# The Future of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms 

Co-sponsored by the Federalist Society’s Civil Rights Practice Group

##### Watch the Event 

Download:

[ 

Video 

](https://fastly-unsigned-us-east-1-prod.brightcovecdn.com/media/v1/pmp4/static/clear/6039378657001/8835fdc6-2882-4a80-838f-0d31d2d47fec/37554ba6-8d52-4e24-a55f-184437131297/main.mp4) 

[ 

Video 

](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2011/cpf-01-20-11.mp4) 

[ 

Audio 

](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2011/cpfa-01-20-11.mp3) 

Join the conversation on X using [\#CatoEvents](https://x.com/hashtag/CatoEvents). Follow [@CatoInstitute](https://x.com/catoinstitute) on X to get future event updates, live streams, and videos from the Cato Institute.

Date and Time 

January 20, 2011 1 - 2:30 PM EST 

Location 

Auditorium/Wintergarden 

Share This Event 

##### Featuring 

Featuring **Alan Gura**, Partner, Gura & Possessky, P.L.L.C.; **Dennis Henigan**, Vice President, Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence; **Nelson Lund**, Professor, George Mason University Law School; and **Alan B. Morrison**, Professor, The George Washington University Law School; moderated by **Roger Pilon**, Director, Center for Constitutional Studies, Cato Institute. 

In 2008, for the first time in our history, the Supreme Court invoked the Second Amendment to strike down a gun-control law, holding that the federal government may not prohibit law-abiding citizens from keeping a handgun in the home for self defense. In 2010, the Court held that state and local governments are also prohibited from banning handguns in the home. Major victories for individual liberty, those decisions were also very narrow. Can we expect future decisions to recognize a wide range of rights to keep and bear arms? Or will the Court’s recent decisions turn out to be mostly symbolic, with little effect on legislative discretion to regulate access to firearms? Please join us for a discussion of opposing views about what the courts are likely to do and what they should do.

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).