The controversy surrounding my Research Director, David Kopel, has grown to the point where I feel I must comment officially.

Before I get to the allegations, let me say that I have known Dave for over two decades. I believe him to be a good man. Like all of us, he is not perfect. And like all of us, he has certainly made some decisions that, with the fullness of time, he might come to regret. Nevertheless, I am proud to call him a good friend and proud to stand with him during this time.

As you are aware, our Second Amendment rights are under assault not only on the national level but also here in Colorado. Dave Kopel is arguably the nation’s leading scholar on the right to keep and bear arms and he has been in high demand. He has never been more productive.

He has been all over the media setting the record straight and putting out the emotional fires of the anti-gun panic. You’ve seen him on CNN, FOX, BBC, PBS’s News Hour, MSNBC and more. You’ve read his work in publications ranging from the Denver Post to the New York Times to the Wall Street Journal.

More importantly, he has been hip-deep in the fight in the Colorado Legislature, meeting with lawmakers, testifying, and rewriting legislation. Senator Greg Brophy thanked him from the Senate floor for rewording part of the hideous magazine ban bill so at least it wouldn’t outlaw almost every shotgun in the state. On Friday, he spent the entire day and most of the night in the Senate Chambers advising lawmakers during their marathon debate.

So, it is little wonder that the ugly allegations against Dave have surfaced. How could David Kopel produce so much quality and impactful work over the last two months if he weren’t using performance enhancing drugs?

Let me make clear, it is not the policy of the Independence Institute, nor has it ever been, to condone juicing by any of its scholars.

Dave has been steadfast in his denials of using steroids, yet, as you have read in the papers, he refuses to submit to the same urine analysis that his other team members do. Curiously, for some reason, our investigative reporter Todd Shepherd submits urine samples hourly.

As for the observations that David’s cranium has expanded to the point of being bulbous, Dave insists that it is an illusion caused by his receding hairline.

All I can say for certain is that I stand by my friend and colleague. If he says his outstanding and wildly effective work has not been aided by performance enhancing drugs, then I for one believe him. And to him I say – Dave we love you whether you have or haven’t, and there is no shame to admit weakness.

There will never be an asterisk by your name in my book.

We took the liberty of planning your upcoming Friday night for you, so just go with it. First at 8:00 tune in to Colorado Public Television 12 and catch Independence Institute research director David Kopel on the public affairs show “Colorado Inside Out.” Then stay tuned at 8:30 for Devil’s Advocate as I am joined by Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper to discuss, among other issues, the numerous gun related bills making their way through the General Assembly. That all starts Friday, March 8 at 8:00 PM on Colorado Public Television 12. Seriously, what else do you have going on?

I’m sure like me, you feel like there is just not enough Dave Kopel in the world to satiate your unquenchable thirst for the Second Amendment, law, history, and everything else Dave knows everything about. We’ll never get enough Kopel, but we can get close. I’ve been visiting Dave’s YouTube channel over the past few weeks and it’s a great way to keep up with everything he’s doing on air. It’s updated regularly so make sure you subscribe to it.

Below you’ll find the latest Dave video – a debate on international gun control held yesterday at DU. It’s basically an hour of Dave dropping knowledge on the panel and the room. Truly remarkable.

Our resident genius and Second Amendment scholar Dave Kopel was in Washington DC this morning to testify on gun violence, public safety, and the right to arms. He was on a panel of five experts who each gave a 5 minute prepared statement and then fielded questions from the US Senate Judiciary Committee.

Here is a PDF of Kopel’s prepared remarks.

Here is the video of Kopel’s testimony and all the questions he fielded from the Senators.

Our Second Amendment expert, Dave Kopel, has never been in more demand than he is right now. As the well-fueled hysteria against the Bill of Rights is at full throttle, voices of reason are being overrun. We are certain reason can prevail when we cut through the emotion of panic that the gun-grabbers feed on. Dave is the antidote to that panic. I invite you to see him in action.

The US Senate Judiciary Committee is set to hear from five witnesses who are authorities on firearms, gun violence, and public safety. Dave will be one of the five testifying in Washington DC tomorrow morning at 8am MST.

Along with reading a prepared statement, witnesses will be fielding Q and A from the committee. Gun owners are lucky to have Dave defending their Second Amendment rights in our nation’s capitol. If anyone can make headway with DC bureaucrats, it’s Dave.

You can watch Dave on TV via CNN and via the Internet on C-SPAN this Wednesday morning at 8am.

You can also arm yourself with the truth on this hot issue by visiting his web page DaveKopel.com

As you may know, I lost my daughter Parker, my only child at the time, to cancer just days before her first birthday. I cannot express the pure terror of that experience. The reality of shopping for a coffin and choosing a burial plot for your only child is a horror that is thankfully rare in modern America.

It is with this personal experience I have a special sensitivity to what the families in Newtown, Connecticut, are now suffering. I lost my child to illness, and at least had the opportunity to try to comfort her and tell her how much I love her. The families of Newtown had no such luxury, no such last goodbye.

For the last decade, I have had an internal battle trying to understand why God or nature would cause my little girl to suffer so. But for these families, that internal struggle will be greatly expanded. How does a parent even begin to comprehend why another human would steal away their child in such a way?

With a dead child and a son now living with Down syndrome I have lived through experiences I despise. Even so, I cannot begin to imagine the hurt and raw fear that these people are now forced to endure. Our thoughts and prayers are with them.

I have learned something of grief, and the long, slow process it takes. Fortunately, there were many dear friends, family, and professionals to help me steer my way through it. Grief may be delayed somewhat, but it never can be avoided. And it is a bitch.

In the immediate madness after my daughter’s death I had little hope, and thoughts of drastic actions filled my mind. A counselor with special expertise in grieving was quite stern with me. Under no circumstances was I to make any major changes in my life for at least a year. Simply, there was no way I, or anyone in my situation, could see reality clearly enough and calmly enough to weigh important decisions.

I wasn’t to kill myself, quit my job, move away, squander my savings, start doing drugs, or anything for at least a year. And I so desperately wanted to do all those things at different times. She insisted I wasn’t to allow the pain and madness drive a decision that would be hard or impossible to undo if it was wrong.

Grieve first, then make decisions — not the other way around.

This advice not to make decisions during such pain is echoing through by body today as strongly as it did when I wanted to take all those insane actions myself. If I had gone down even one of those paths, it would have been a massive mistake. I see that now. My counselor was right. I can’t thank her enough.

I fear that we, collectively, are not wise enough to take this advice today. And we so need to. In the immediate pain and madness of this crime, the desire to do something, something big, something different, is nearly overwhelming, uncontrollable. I know what this feels like all too well. It feels like it makes all the sense in the world to ban certain firearms, throw restrictions on the law-abiding, disarm civilians, turn ourselves against the Bill of Rights, just as my desires made perfect sense to me during my time of pain.

But given my experience, I worry where we will find ourselves years from now if we allow grief and the madness of pain to take us down a path from which we can’t return. Let us grieve. Let us walk through the pain and hurt and fear. Clear thinking will return, in time. Then let us talk clearly and calmly about the serious decisions that might change us forever.

Catch Independence Institute Second Amendment scholar and DU law professor David Kopel on CNN’s Piers Morgan show tonight at 7:00 Mountain Standard Time. They will be discussing (and debating) gun control post Kansas City Chiefs tragedy.

Independence Institute Research Director, Law Professor, and Second Amendment expert Dave Kopel spoke at the University of Colorado at Denver on Sept. 11, 2012. The anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks is a good time to consider how to enhance protection against all forms of terrorism through policy changes which safeguard civil liberties. One of the best such changes is removing restrictions against licensed carry on campus, because such restrictions make colleges into safe zones for mass murderers and other criminals.

Want to hear the country’s foremost authority on the Second Amendment? Independence Institute Research Director, DU Law professor, and Second Amendment expert Dave Kopel is speaking on terrorism, the right to bear arms, and licensed carry on college campuses tomorrow at CU-Denver. He’ll also be fielding Q and A on gun control so bring your questions.

Details: Tuesday, September 11th from 12:30 to 1:30 at CU-Denver.
Room: Tivoli 320.
Topics: Terrorism, the right to bear arms, and licensed carry on college campuses.
Here is the Facebook event page.

It’s no exaggeration to say that our annual Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Party is the most fun event of the year. We get people from all over coming out to celebrate the perks of adulthood with us each summer. This year marked our 10th annual ATF Party. I almost can’t believe it’s been that long. Ten years of decadence! Anyhow, to honor such a momentous occasion, we invited the executive editor of The Daily Caller, David Martosko, out to keynote the event. He did a wonderful job lambasting the ills of our ever expanding nanny-state. If you missed David’s speech, or any of the madness that went down this year, don’t worry. C-SPAN was there and filmed the festivities post-shooting. Watch the video here.

David also found himself on the NRA News program “Cam and Company” with host Cameron Gray on the 16th. The show was interesting because they both spoke about our ATF Party and how cool it is. David mentioned how much fun he had this year and strangely enough, realized that our keynote speaker for next year’s party is none other than Cameron Gray himself! What a coincidence! It goes without saying that we are very excited about having Cameron out next summer and he is pumped to finally make it out to our big shindig.

Below you’ll find the two-part video of David’s appearance on Cameron’s show. They mention our ATF Party in the very beginning of part 2.