Dave Kopel | |
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| Born | David B. Kopel (1960-01-07)January 7, 1960 (age 65) |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Brown University (BA) University of Michigan Law School |
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| Political party | Democratic |
| Website | davekopel |
David B. Kopel[1] (born January 7, 1960) is an American author,attorney,gun rights advocate, andcontributing editor to several publications.
As of August 2021, he is research director of theIndependence Institute,[2] associate policy analyst at theCato Institute, adjunct professor of advanced constitutional law atDenver University,Sturm College of Law and contributes to theVolokh Conspiracy legal blog. Previously he was adjunct professor of law,New York University, and former assistant attorney general forColorado.
Kopel is also a life member of theAcademy of Criminal Justice Sciences,[3] and, as of 2010, served on the board of directors of the Colorado Union of Taxpayers.[4]
Kopel earned aB.A. in history with highest honors fromBrown University, and won the National Geographic Society Prize for best history thesis with a biography ofArthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.[5] He graduated magna cum laude from theUniversity of Michigan Law School. He was also a contributing editor of theMichigan Law Review.
Politically he is a lifelong registeredDemocrat but a confessedsmall governmentlibertarian at heart who voted forRalph Nader in 2000.[6] In addition, he voted forRon Paul in 1988;[7] andGeorge W. Bush in 2004 for reasons related to foreign policy.[8]
Kopel opposesgun control and is a benefactor member of theNational Rifle Association of America. His articles on gun control andgun violence have been cited in theOpposing Viewpoints Series.[9] In 2003, Kopel wrote inNational Review "Simply put, if not for gun control, Hitler would not have been able to murder 21 million people."[10] In 2008 he contributed an article to the 59th Volume of theSyracuse Law Review entitled "The Natural Right of Self-Defense:Heller's Lesson for the World."[11] He appeared inFahrenHYPE 9/11, a film that disputes the allegations inFahrenheit 9/11. Kopel's Independence Institute received 1.42 million dollars of funding for its activities by the National Rifle Association.[12][13]
While professing to be an opponent of gun control, Kopel testified before a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on March 26, 2019, that he in fact supports "Red Flag Laws" aka Extreme Risk Protection Orders, that are heavily supported and pushed by gun control groups and advocates.[14]
In 2008, Kopel appeared before theUnited States Supreme Court as part of the team presenting the plaintiff's oral argument inDistrict of Columbia v. Heller. His Heller amicus brief for a law coalition of law enforcement organizations and district attorneys was cited four times in the Court’s Heller opinions. His brief inMcDonald v. Chicago (2010) was cited byJustice Alito’s plurality opinion, and twice byJustice Stevens’ dissent. He has also testified numerous times before Congress and state legislatures, including before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on the Supreme Court nominations ofElena Kagan andSonia Sotomayor.[15]
Kopel testified on January 30, 2013, six weeks after the Newtown, Connecticut,Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, before theSenate Judiciary Committee on gun violence.[16] One month later MSNBC.com revealed that Kopel and the Independence Institute had received $108,000 in grants from the National Rifle Association's Civil Rights Defense Fund, and that another witness at the Senate Judiciary hearing,David T. Hardy, testifying as a private attorney in Tucson, Arizona, had received $67,500 in grants from the same NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund in 2011.[17]
Kopel was the lead attorney in a May 2013Federal civil rightslawsuit against theState of Colorado aimed at blocking several "Democratic gun control measures passed by the state legislature and signed into law by Gov.John Hickenlooper" in March 2013.[18]
TheFox News affiliate station in Denver,Fox31, and correspondent Eli Stokols in May 2013 revealed that Kopel had received $1.39 million in grant money from the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund between 2004 and 2011. Fox31 reported Kopel's NRA funding after the Colorado-based Independence Institute filed suit in Colorado challenging the state's gun laws with Kopel as the lead attorney.[19]
Kopel has authored columns in outlets includingThe Denver Post,The Washington Post, theLos Angeles Times,The New York Times andThe Wall Street Journal, and articles in law reviews including theHarvard Law Review,Yale Law Journal,Michigan Law Review,University of Pennsylvania Law Review,SAIS Review, and theBrown Journal of World Affairs.[15]
The New York Times changed Kopel's author ID for the online opinion piece, "Bloomberg’s Gun Control That Goes Too Far for the Average Citizen," on April 18, 2014, to reveal that that Independence Institute, where Kopel is research director, has "received grant money from the National Rifle Association's Civil Rights Defense Fund."[13] On April 24, 2014,The Progressive reported that Kopel and his Independence Institute "have received over $1.42 million including about $175,000 a year over eight years from the NRA."[20]
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