Therefore, with a little help from Dave himself, here’s a quick list of stuff Dave’s done recently that most ordinary humans could not do:

Wrote an amicus brief in the McDonald v. Chicago Supreme Court case that was cited 3 times in the decision. Wrote a critical article for America’s 1st Freedom explaining the Supreme Court opinions in McDonald. Dave sat down with me for a podcast and a TV show about the crucial McDonald decision.

Here’s an America’s 1st Freedom article on Dave’s book Aiming for Liberty.

Dave flew to Washington DC to provide testimony on Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan and her Second Amendment views. Here is video of Kopel’s testimony with a couple of followup Q&A from the Senators.

Catch Dave at Liberty on the Rocks Red Rocks this coming Monday the 19th at the Old Chicago in Lakewood.

After you’re done catching up with all that, Dave will have a dozen new things out to read, watch, and listen to, so stay tuned here.  We are so honored to have him here at Independence.  Thanks Dave for all you do!

Kopel’s amicus brief for the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association (as well as the Independence Institute, CORE, and other law enforcement organizations and scholars) was cited three times in the Supreme Court’s opinions in McDonald v. Chicago. The brief is cited once by Justice Alito’s plurality opinion (footnote 2) and twice by Justice Stevens’ dissent.

Stay tuned for Dave’s commentary on this momentous decision. I’ll provide some links to his podcasts and writing on McDonald in the coming days here on the Cauldron.

Tonight State Board of Education member Peggy Littleton and State Senator Michael Johnston join Caldara to debate whether the requirement for Colorado to sign on to national Common Core Standards is a price too high for $175 million in Race to the Top money.

Then at 9:00…well, by then we’ve done our part to set the mood and you are on your own, my friends.

So the showdown is set for the two sides at the Boulder County ACLU board meeting tomorrow, Wednesday, April 28th at 7 p.m. The debate will be on the CU-Boulder campus’ Wolf Law building, room 201 (corner of Baseline and Broadway – but must turn on Regent to access parking lot).

Both sides will have their say and there will be ample time for what is sure to be a riotous Q and A. There is no need to RSVP and the event is FREE!

No reservations are necessary. Just show up. No charge.

Last Tuesday (April 20)  Denver defense attorney Jeralyn Merrit wrote that, “for the first time since 2002″ she had rejected putting an ad on her excellent criminal justice and political blog, TalkLeft.com.  So what made her reject the ad?  According to Jeralyn:

It was an ad for gun control, that began in big letters, “Keep Guns Out of the Hands of Criminals” and urged people to support new laws on sales at gun shows. Given the focus of this blog, to protect the rights of those accused of crime and particularly, constitutional rights, I would have recoiled every time I logged on to my own blog.  So, even though it would have paid for TalkLeft’s hosting service for a full month (no small amount since we’re on our own server), I rejected it.

Way to stick to your guns, Jeralyn.

The Denver Post, on the other hand, had no problem taking an ad for Bloomberg’s bad gun bill.

Check out Independence Institute Research Director and Second Amendment scholar Dave Kopel in Saturday’s Denver Post in response to a full-page ad the Post ran urging Senator Mark Udall to get on-board the Bloomberg bandwagon.  Writes Kopel:

According to the ad, the Bloomberg bill would nationalize Colorado’s rule about background checks at gun shows. But in fact, only a small fraction of the Bloomberg bill addresses the issue of background checks. The rest of the bill has a much more aggressive agenda.

Check out the whole thing here.

Of course I’m referring to college campuses. In theory, our college campuses are supposed to tolerate and encourage discussions – especially on contentious topics. And like venereal disease, ideas are meant to freely fly back and forth between all students on the campus. However, in practice, modern day college campuses seem to tolerate the free exchange of VD much more than they do the free exchange of ideas.

Take for example Carroll College in Helena, Montana. There was supposed to be a town hall meeting on the constitutionality of the health care reform bill today on Carroll’s campus. However, in a last minute show of tolerance and diversity, the school disallowed the public discussion, which featured Independence Institute Senior Fellow in Constitutional Jurisprudence Rob Natelson. Of course it’s difficult to keep a story straight when no one can agree on the terms of refusal, so school administrators are offering a couple of different excuses.

The Director of Student Activities offered their stance on public speakers at one point,

Where the perspective of the speaker, program or event might appear to be in opposition to the mission statement of the College or is so controversial as to arouse emotions or create unnecessary turmoil, the academic department or faculty organization proposing the event will consult with appropriate members of the college community before extending the initiation.

Then the Executive Director for Advancement said,

It really is a matter of timing.

Then they both kind of resorted to the timing issue, citing the lack of time they had to put the request through the proper channels, how the room was already reserved for someone else, yada yada yada…. Then the answer most aligned with the truth came out:

For many reasons it was decided that this event does not fit into our Carroll Mission. … The Committee was very worried that the ‘Town Hall Meeting’ would look much like scenes we have seen on T.V. across the nation the last few months.

BINGO. In other words, entirely too much debate + entirely too many differing views + an unapproved stance on health care = typical campus hypocrisy. It fits quite well with the overall college campus view of free speech, “we love free speech, just as long as we agree with it.” In the end, Rob Natelson was denied the opportunity to present the view that the health care reform crammed down our throats passed by Congress and signed by President Obama is in fact, unconstitutional. Too bad Carroll College denied their students the chance to hear one of the country’s best law professors and legal minds argue a point that currently 18 state Attorneys General agree with.

Fortunately diversity of opinion still matters in some places. Research director Dave Kopel will be provided the opportunity to argue in favor of state’s rights and AG Suther’s lawsuit citing the unconstitutionality of health care reform in just under two weeks time. We would like to thank the Boulder County ACLU and CU-Boulder for coming together to arrange a forum for Dave to debate former Colorado Supreme Court Justice Jean Dubofsky on this incredibly important issue. It’s a wonderful thing that CU-Boulder students and the general public will not be shielded from the free exchange of ideas and diversity of opinion.

So the showdown is set for the two sides at the Boulder County ACLU board meeting Tuesday, April 27th at 7 p.m. The debate will be on the CU-Boulder campus’ Wolf Law building, room 201 (corner of Baseline and Broadway – but must turn on Regent to access parking lot).

Both sides will have their say and there will be ample time for what is sure to be a riotous Q and A. There is no need to RSVP and the event is FREE!

No reservations are necessary. Just show up. No charge.

Colorado State University recently overturned its 7-year-old policy allowing licensed concealed carry on campus. In the wake of CSU’s decision to ban concealed carry, Students for Concealed Carry on Campus invites the public to attend a debate about the wisdom, legality, and safety of allowing licensed concealed carry on campus.

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and its state ally, Colorado Ceasefire, plan to participate. Concealed carry advocates Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden and the Independence Institute’s Dave Kopel will be participating as well. The debate is expected to last about an hour, with time for questions.

That’s tonight, from 6pm to 8pm at the CSU campus in room “Clark A103.”

You can visit the Facebook event page here.