07/23/2021: Added Guns on Campus, Academic Questions (December, 2014).
05/01/2021: Added Peace Bonds collection and Statute of Northampton page to primary sources page.
03/02/2018: Added astrophotographs to Astrophotography
12/31/2010: Added vast quantities of articles to the Popular Magazine & Newspaper Articles page for June 1, 2009 through January 1, 2011.
06/20/2009: Added images of State v. Wilburn (Tenn. 1872), Fife v. State (1876), and Wilson v. State (Ark. 1878) and Holland v. State (Ark. 1878) to the right to keep and bear arms decisions page.
05/03/2009: Added the following articles to the Popular Magazine & Newspaper Articles page:
The Heller Aftermath," Shotgun News, October 1, 2008, pp. 22-24,
"She Can Field Dress A Moose—A Donkey Will Be Easy!", Shotgun News, November 1, 2008, pp. 30-32,
"Gun Shows and Public Safety," Shotgun News, December 1, 2008, pp. 20-21,
"Big Trouble," Shotgun News, January 1, 2009, pp. 22-24,
"A Nation of Marksmen," America's First Freedom, January, 2009, 37-41,
"Parks, D.C. Dragging Their Feet," Shotgun News, February 1, 2009, pp. 22-24,
"Post-Heller Victories," Shotgun News, March 1, 2009, pp. 20-22,
"Is the Militia Obsolete?", America's First Freedom, March 2009, 38-41,
"Speak Softly and Carry a Big Video Camera," Shotgun News, April 1, 2009, pp. 20-22,
"Poor Mexico: So Far From God, And So Close to the United States," Shotgun News, May 1, 2009, pp. 26-28.
05/02/2009: Added "Spare Tires Cause Flats!", Reason,
February 1985, 46, to Popular Magazine & Newspaper Articles page.
04/13/2009: Added "Gun Control: Political Fears Trump Crime Control," Maine Law Review, 61:1[2009] 57-81.
Co-authored with Joseph Edward Olson.
A detailed examination of the discrepancy between the stated purpose of the British Firearms
Act of 1920--crime control--and what the declassified Cabinet papers and diaries of participants
show was the real concern: fear of Bolshevik revolution.
03/28/2009: Added State v. Keet (Mo. 1916) and
City of Salina v. Blaksley (Kan. 1905) to the
primary sources page.
09/21/2008: Added "The D.C. Suit Parade," Shotgun News, April 1, 2008, pp. 28-29,
"The Heller Oral Arguments," Shotgun News, May 1, 2008, pp. 24, 26,
"Standards of Review," Shotgun News, June 1, 2008, pp. 22-24,
"Are You Clinging To Your Guns?" Shotgun News, July 1, 2008, pp. 22-23,
"President Obama and the Heller Decision," Shotgun News, August 1, 2008, pp. 20-21,
"The Heller Victory," Shotgun News, September 1, 2008, pp. 24-26
to the Popular Magazine & Newspaper Articles page.
08/29/2008: A major revision of all pages.
04/08/2008: Added
"What Did "Bear Arms" Mean in the Second Amendment?" Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy,
6:2 [2008] and "Pistols,
Crime, and Public Safety in Early America." Willamette Law Review, 44[2008] to the
scholarly journal articles page.
03/08/2008: Added "Heroes and Tragedy",
"The DC Suit," , and "Is The Militia Obsolete?"
to the
popular magazine articles page. 12/03/2007: Added "Assault Weapons and Identity Theft," and
"Guns, Alcohol, and Laws," to the
popular magazine articles page 10/02/2007: Added "Books & Movies," to the popular
magazine articles page. 09/12/2007: Added "HR 2640: Sensible Solution or Trojan Horse?"
to the popular
magazine articles page. 09/10/2007: Added
Fife v. State (Ark. 1876),
Dunston v. State (Ala. 1900),
State v. Gohl (Wash. 1907), and
State v. Keet (Mo. 1916)
to to the
primary sources page. 09/06/2007: Added Dabbs v. State (Ark. 1882),
In re Brickey (Ida. 1902),
State v. Boone (N.C. 1903), and
State v. Burgoyne (Tenn. 1879) to the
primary sources page. 08/09/2007: Added a bunch of Shotgun News articles from April 2006 through August 2007 to
the popular
magazine articles page. 03/22/2007: Added a 1943 Los Alamos document about nuclear weapons to
primary sources page. 03/02/2006: Added the following new articles to the popular
magazine articles page: "The
Perfect Is The Enemy of the Good," Shotgun News, February 1,
2006, pp. 28-29; "Washington
State's Open Carry Ban," Shotgun News, March 1, 2006, pp. 26-27.
The interesting history of Washington State's ban on open carry, which
suggests that it was not intended as a general ban on open carrying of
firearms, but a way to prevent the Black Panthers from walking into the
statehouse armed.
01/22/2006: Added "Drugs, Guns, &
Commerce" Shotgun News, August 1, 2005, pp. 26-27; "Replacing
Justice O'Connor" Shotgun News, September 1, 2005, pp. 20-21;
"Defending
Self-Defense" Shotgun News, October 1, 2005, pp. 20-21; "Lord
of the Flies, Cajun Style"Shotgun News, November 1, 2005, pp.
20-21; "Odds & Ends"Shotgun News,
December 1, 2005, pp. 20-21; and "A
Tale of Two Referendums," Shotgun News, January 1, 2006, pp.
20-21 to the popular magazine articles page.
06/25/2005: Added "Gun
Safety Regulation in Early America," to the popular
magazine articles page.
06/23/2005: Added the following new articles to the popular
magazine articles page: "Concealed
Carry on University Campuses," Shotgun News, July 10, 2004,
p. 11. "Take Him To Detroit!"
Shotgun
News, August 1, 2004, p. 11. "Lawsuits
Against Concealed Carry," Shotgun News, August 20, 2004, p.
11. "Publishing
Lists of Permitholders,"Shotgun News, September 1, 2004, pp.
20-21. "New Jersey Concealed
Weapon Permits," Shotgun News, October 1, 2004, p. 9. "The
Henry Family of Gunsmiths,"Shotgun News, October 20, 2004, p.
9. "After The Election," Shotgun
News, November 10, 2004, p. 9. "Persuading
Other Gun Owners,"Shotgun News, December 1, 2004, p. 9. "The
Hatred After the Election," Shotgun News, December 20, 2004,
p. 9. "Illinois Does
Two Things Right," Shotgun News, January 1, 2005, pp. 22-23.
"Showing
Their True Colors,"
Shotgun News, February 1, 2005, pp. 20-21.
"The Department of Justice
Issues an Opinion," Shotgun News, March 1, 2005, pp. 20-21.
"Integrity & Real History,"Shotgun
News, April 1, 2005, pp. 22-23. "Counting
Gunsmiths in Early America," Shotgun News, May 1, 2005, pp.
24-25.
06/21/2005: Added two new articles "Duty
to Retreat," and "What Is A Felony?" to
the popular magazine articles page.
12/11/2004: Added a new section titled Astronomy on the main
page, and a product announcement here.
10/30/2004: The link to "A
Tale of Three Cities" on My Law Reviews &
Other Scholarly Journal Articles page was broken.
07/10/2004: Added a bunch of Pennsylvania militia statutes for 1777
and 1780, as well as Pennsylvania's 1777 Test Act under primary
sources pages.
06/21/2004: Added a bunch of articles starting with "All
For the Want of a Nail," to the popular
magazine articles page.
05/18/2004: A number of links to the Colonial Connecticut Records website
were no longer valid on the primary
sources pages. I have fixed these.
05/02/2004: Added West New Jersey and East New Jersey sodomy and bestiality
statutes to the primary
sources pages.
05/01/2004: Added 1668 and 1679 militia statutes to the Militia
Laws section. Added a 1675 ban on sales of guns and ammunition
to the Indians to Race-Specific
and Religion-Specific Gun Control Statutes section.
04/30/2004: Added a
1729 North Carolina law about slaves hunting to Race-Specific
and Religion-Specific Gun Control Statutes section. Added a whole
bunch of colonial sodomy and bestiality statutes to primary
sources pages, along with reworking that whole discussion.
03/30/2004: Added "Victory
in Missouri, Again--Sort Of" at Popular
Magazine articles.
02/23/2004: Added "Victory in Ohio"
at Popular Magazine articles.
02/02/2004: Added a bunch of articles from Shotgun News for June,
2003 through February, 2004, at Popular
Magazine articles.
01/28/2004: Added link to Delaware
State Archives collection of slavery documents, on the Slavery
section of the primary sources page.
07/26/2003: Added a chapter from George Bancroft's History
of the United States of America from the Discovery of the Continentto
the primary sources page to show
you how history used to be written.
07/24/2003: Added colonial sodomy laws to the primary
sources pages.
06/15/2003: Added "How to Become Wealthy" series from my weblog, packaged
up neatly at http://www.claytoncramer.com/rich/BecomeWealthy.html.
06/06/2003: Added May 1, 2003 Shotgun News article about Two
New Shall-Issue States.
06/02/2003: Added 1778 and 1784 Georgia militia statutes at primary
sources pages; updated the "One Nation, Under
God" item at primary
sources page with some more information about Delaware's 1776 Constitutional
Convention. Added a shopping list from 1737
Georgia because it gives pricing information on guns, among other items.
04/28/2003: Added Pennsylvania laws regulating trial of blacks, including
a ban on carrying of weapons, at Race-Specific
and Religion-Specific Gun Control Statutes page, and under the Slavery
section. Added 1756 and 1757 Pennsylvania militia statutes to
primary
sources pages.
04/24/2003: Added Rhode Island militia statutes of 1699 and 1718 to
the primary
sources pages. Added the 1756 Georgia statute prohibiting Acadians
from possessing guns, except on their master's plantation to what is now
the Race-Specific
and Religion-Specific Gun Control Statutes page.
03/12/2003: Added "One Nation, Under God"
to the primary sources
page.
02/01/2003: Added Watson v. Stone (Fla. 1941) to http://www.claytoncramer.com/primary/primary.html#RKBADecisions.
01/05/2003: Added some post-Civil War right to keep and bear arms decisions
to http://www.claytoncramer.com/primary/primary.html#RKBADecisions.
I will be adding more over the next few days.
01/02/2003: Added "Praise
the Lord! & Pass the Ammunition," an article in America's First
Freedom, January, 2003, 36-37, to http://www.claytoncramer.com/popularmagazines.htm.
This article examines colonial laws requiring you to bring your
gun to church--and requiring church elders in some colonies to search you,
to make sure that you were armed.
12/27/2002: Added a review of Non Campus Mentis to the book
review page.
12/22/2002: Added a 1655 New York
(okay, actually New Amsterdam) militia law exempting Jews from service,
and taxing them instead.
11/25/2002: "Ballistic Fingerprinting,"Shotgun
News, December 16, 2002, 20-22.
10/31/2002: Signed Arithmetic --
Basic Four Operations: how to teach your kids to do positive and negative
arithmetic without excesses of theory and pain.
10/21/2002: "Gun Laws Under
The Influence," Shotgun News, November 18, 2002, 20-22, on http://www.claytoncramer.com/popularmagazines.htm.
This article is about California's new firearms product liability law,
and why even those who don't live in the West Coast "open ward" need to
be worried.
10/13/2002: I added a picture of my new car (well, new to me) at the
bottom of my home page; and I added Hening
1:226-227 to the http://www.claytoncramer.com/primary/primary.html
page. These include two separate items: a law requiring "all persons
except negroes to be provided with arms and amunition" (apparently an obligation
imposed on masters and fathers), which is both a militia law and a race-based
arms law, and an act which makes it a felony to trade arms and ammunition
with the Indians.
09/23/2002: I added "What Caliber Do You Use For
Your Dragons?", Shotgun News, October 14, 2002, 21-22, a movie
review of Reign of Fire, on http://www.claytoncramer.com/popularmagazines.htm.
09/10/2002: I added "Caesar's Wife,"Shotgun
News, September 16, 2002, 18-19 on http://www.claytoncramer.com/popularmagazines.htm,
about how to lose the battle for gun rights by how you say what you say.
I have also added a weblog.
("All the cool kids are doing it!")
08/21/2002: I added a link to the draft
of Professor James Lindgren's "Fall from Grace: Arming America and
the Bellesiles Scandal," 111 Yale Law Journal 2195-2249 [June 2002]
on Miscellaneous
Unpublished Stuff.
08/20/2002: I did a little reorganizing of the http://www.claytoncramer.com/primary/primary.html
page so that it now has a table of contents.
08/11/2002: I have added a link to the The
Plymouth Colony Archive Project at the University of Virginia on my
http://www.claytoncramer.com/primary/primary.html
page. I have also reorganized the somewhat miscellanous collection
of links at the beginning of this page to be chronological.
08/03/2002: Books and Culture put my review of Joyce Malcolm's
new book on their web site, so I changed the link to on http://www.claytoncramer.com/popularmagazines.htm
so that it now points to their copy.
07/28/2002: Added "Checking Sources,"Shotgun
News, August 19, 2002, on http://www.claytoncramer.com/popularmagazines.htm,
about why you shouldn't believe every amazing or wonderful quote from history
that someone sends you.
07/20/2002: More updates about my sinus surgery at http://www.claytoncramer.com/SinusSurgery.htm.
I can no longer do a passable cow impression! Not enough resonance!
07/18/2002: More updates about my sinus surgery at http://www.claytoncramer.com/SinusSurgery.htm.
07/13/2002: Added Shotgun News articles about the Ohio Court
of Appeals decision striking down Ohio's concealed weapons law "Good
News from Ohio" and "The
Justice Department Discovers the 2nd Amendment," on http://www.claytoncramer.com/popularmagazines.htm.
My review (on http://www.claytoncramer.com/popularmagazines.htm)
of Joyce Malcolm's new book appeared in Books & Culture: A Christian
Review.
A few more additions to my gruesome sinus surgery description are at
http://www.claytoncramer.com/SinusSurgery.htm.
07/08/2002: The joys of sinus surgery! My personal experience
can be found at http://www.claytoncramer.com/SinusSurgery.htm.
I would expect most people will be reading this because they are considering
having it done themselves.
I have also added a link to Partial
Transcription of INWARD SLAVE MANIFESTS 1818 to 1860: Port of New Orleans,
Record Group 36, United States Customs Service Collector of Customs at
New Orleans; Microfilm Rolls 1-3, 12 of 25 Rolls Housed at National Archives,
Washington, D.C.under http://www.claytoncramer.com/primary/primary.html#Slavery.
06/05/2002: I have added all the antebellum right to keep and bear arms
decisions that I know of [Bliss v. Commonwealth (Ky. 1822),
State
v. Mitchell (Ind. 1831), Simpson v. State (Tenn. 1833),
Aymette
v. State (Tenn.1840), Reid v.
State (Ala. 1840), State
v. Buzzard (Ark. 1842), State v.
Huntly (N.C. 1843),
State
v. Newsom (N.C. 1844),
Nunn v. State (Ga. 1846), Cooper
and Worsham v. City of Savannah (Ga. 1848),
State v.
Chandler
(La. 1850),
State v.
Smith (La. 1856), State v. Jumel (La.
1858), Owen v. State (Ala. 1858), Cockrum v. State
(Tex. 1859)] at http://www.claytoncramer.com/primary/primary.html#RKBADecisions.
I also added Ely v. Thompson, 3
A.K. Marshall (Ky.) 70, 75 (1820), a decision that recognized that
free blacks had a right to self-defense, under http://www.claytoncramer.com/primary/primary.html#Slavery.
05/04/2002: I added "Rights and Revolution"
(which I consider the finest short essay that I have ever written) and
"Secure Your Guns" to the popular magazine
articles page. Added 1755 and 1758 Georgia militia laws; also
the 1757 Georgia slave patrols law, and the 1759 Savannah night watch (slave
patrol) law under http://www.claytoncramer.com/primary/primary.html#GaMilitiaLaws.
The 1755 Georgia slave law is at http://www.claytoncramer.com/primary/primary.html#Slavery.
04/16/2002: Added the 1740 Lewes, Delaware militia statute, and the
1742 Delaware militia statute to http://www.claytoncramer.com/primary/primary.html#MilitiaLaws.
Also, the 1742 Delaware militia statute could be read as prohibiting slaves
and perhaps free blacks from having guns. See http://www.claytoncramer.com/primary/primary.html#RaceGunControlStatutes.
04/15/2002: Added the 1746 North Carolina, 1716 New Hampshire, and 1703
New Jersey militia statutes to http://www.claytoncramer.com/primary/primary.html#MilitiaLaws.
04/14/2002: Added the 1715 North Carolina militia statute to http://www.claytoncramer.com/primary/primary.html#MilitiaLaws.
04/11/2002: Added some interesting materials about the coup d'etat plot
(if that's what it was) against President Franklin Roosevelt,
04/09/2002: Added some travel accounts that Professor Bellesiles seems
to have "misread" to the primary
sources page.
04/06/2002: Added several more articles that were published recently:
"Aiming
High: Guns as Fireworks in American History",
"Gun
Control on the Ropes", "The
Final Chapter of Arming America?" all of which are on the Popular
Magazine Articles page.
03/31/2002: The link to my article in Ideas on Liberty needed
updating; my house is now pending sale, and the realtor has changed.
03/25/2002: Added several articles that were published a few months
back: "Another Victory" against negligent
marketing suits; "America's
First Firearms Product Liability Suit?" all on the Popular
Magazine Articles page.
03/19/2002: Added a few new articles about the Bellesiles scandal to
the Unpublished
page, where the Arming
America scandal stuff is, including National
Public Radio's coverage, which means he is toast.
03/19/2002: I have gotten a bit behind in adding popular magazine articles
to my website, but here are a few new ones: "Talking
to Gun Control Advocates", Shotgun News, February 1, 2002; "Values
Have Value", Shotgun News, March 1, 2002, 20-21; "The
Emerson Decision: What It Means For Gun Owners", Handguns, March,
2002, 18-21, 67, all with appropriate links on the Popular
Magazine Articles page. Also added a link to Johnny
Pate's site concerning British gun control laws on the Other
Useful Web Pages page.
03/11/2002: Fixed a problem with the volume numbers for the Maryland
militia statutes (nothing else changed, just the volume numbers in http://www.claytoncramer.com/primary/primary.html.
Added a Maryland race-specific gun control law. Also added a link
to the Archives of Maryland website.
03/02/2002: Added a number of links to recent newspaper articles under
http://www.claytoncramer.com/unpublished.htm#ArmingAmerica
about the Bellesiles controversy.
02/10/2002: Added a whole bunch of stuff to the http://www.claytoncramer.com/unpublished.htm#ArmingAmerica
page about the Bellesiles controversy.
02/06/2002: Added links to the paper
I submitted to the Journal of the Early Republic and their snotty
rejection letter.
01/17/2002: Fixed a link error on http://www.claytoncramer.com/primary/primary.html
because the link for Hening 2:405 was pointing to the wrong page.
01/14/2002: Added entry on http://www.claytoncramer.com/unpublished.htm
listing reviewers of Arming America who have either admitted that
they were hoodwinked by it, or at least are admitting that there are some
serious questions about its accuracy.
12/25/2001: Added ad for my house in California.
12/23/2001: I have removed my request for a new job from my web page,
since I now have a job in Boise! I also changed the mail link to
contact me.
11/19/2001: There was an error in the publication date of de Tocqueville's
Journey
to America in my Gun
Scarcity in the Early Republic? paper. This has been corrected.
09/28/2001: Added an article (and link to it) from Ideas on Liberty
(http://www.claytoncramer.com/journals.htm);
added my most recent National Review article to http://www.claytoncramer.com/popularmagazines.htm,
but not the article or a link to it.
09/23/2001: Added some more statutes for Plymouth (http://www.claytoncramer.com/primary/primary.html#PlymouthMilitiaLaws).
09/20/2001: Discovered a requirement to go armed to church on Archives
of Maryland 1:103, and added description of into http://www.claytoncramer.com/primary/primary.html#MDMilitiaLaws;
added some more material for Plymouth (http://www.claytoncramer.com/primary/primary.html#PlymouthMilitiaLaws).
09/15/2001: Added a few more Massachusetts militia laws at http://www.claytoncramer.com/primary/primary.html#MAMilitiaLaws
and
some Massachusetts race-specific gun control laws at http://www.claytoncramer.com/primary/primary.html#RaceGunControlStatutes.
09/13/2001: Added some more Massachusetts militia statutes at http://www.claytoncramer.com/primary/primary.html#MAMilitiaLaws.
I also added some Connecticut race-specific gun control laws at http://www.claytoncramer.com/primary/primary.html#RaceGunControlStatutes.
09/09/2001: Added the Virginia militia statutes at http://www.claytoncramer.com/primary/primary.html#VAMilitiaLaws,
a new section on race-specific gun control laws at http://www.claytoncram
in which Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler was to play a prominent role.
This is under http://www.claytoncramer.com/primary/primary.html.
