Fourth Circuit Judge Cites Professor Larson in Dissent in Gun-Rights Case

Professor Carlton F.W. Larson was cited in an opinion in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit case Hirschfeld v. ATF. A three-judge panel ruled that a federal law prohibiting licensed firearm dealers from selling to adults younger than 21 violated the rights of 18- to 20-year-olds. Judge James A. Wynn Jr. cited Larson’s 2009 Hastings Law Journal article “Four Exceptions in Search of a Theory: District of Columbia v. Heller and Judicial Ipse Dixit” in his dissent.

Carlton Larson's research interests focus on constitutional law and legal history. One of the nation’s leading authorities on the law of treason, Professor Larson is the author of two ABA Silver Gavel Award finalist books, The Trials of Allegiance: Treason, Juries, and the American Revolution (Oxford University Press, 2019) and On Treason: A Citizen’s Guide to the Law (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2020).