Professor Larson Authors Op-Ed on Supreme Court Gun Decision for SacBee

Professor Carlton F.W. Larson authored an op-ed for the July 4 edition of The Sacramento Bee, titled "Gun decision means more work for justice system."  Larson writes that the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in McDonald v. Chicago will leave lower court judges to deal with "thousands of new claims about gun rights, but provides virtually no guidance on how these claims should be evaluated."

Larson argues that the Justices dodged the issue of standard of scrutiny.  "The Court failed to offer even the tiniest life raft to lower courts on the standard of scrutiny," Larson writes.  "Indeed, it didn't even formally invalidate the Chicago handgun ban at issue in the case, instead remanding the case for further proceedings in the lower court.  The end result is that lower court judges will be left to evaluate endless gun claims, such as the constitutionality of California's restrictions on assault weapons, without any of the judicial tools normally available in constitutional cases."

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

Sacramento Bee op-ed, "Gun decision means more work for justice system"