Professor Larson Cited in Second Amendment Case

Professor Carlton Larson is cited in a United States District Court decision with potentially far-reaching implications regarding the scope of Second Amendment rights for the mentally ill. 

In Michael L. Keyes and Jonathan K. Yox v. Loretta E. Lynch, Judge John E. Jones III of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania relied heavily upon Larson's article "Four Execptions in Search of a Theory: District of Columbia v. Heller and Judicial Ipse Dixit".  Judge Jones described Larson's article as "a very pertinent law review article on the topic, in which Professor Carlton Larson comprehensively examines the historical underpinnings of what he refers to as the ‘Heller exceptions' to the Second Amendment right to bear arms, including the exceptions for felons and the mentally ill."  

Judge Jones upheld an as-applied to challenge to the federal statutory restriction on arms possession by persons who had previously been involuntarily committed to a mental institution, concluding that the restriction could not constitutionally apply to the plaintiff, who had no current mental disabilities and was authorized to use firearms in his professional capacity as a state prison guard.

Carlton Larson's research interests focus on constitutional law and legal history, with a strong emphasis on the 18th century.