Firearms Law Works-in-Progress Conference 2024

DATE:  May 23-24, 2024

LOCATION:  Durham, NC

ABSTRACTS DUE:  February 9, 2024

The Duke Center for Firearms Law and the University of Wyoming College of Law Firearms Research Center invite applications to participate in the sixth annual Firearms Law Works-in-Progress Conference. The conference will be held at Duke University School of Law in Durham, North Carolina on May 23 & 24, 2024. We ask all those interested in presenting a paper at the conference to submit an abstract by February 9, 2024.

At the Firearms WIP Conference, scholars and practitioners present and discuss works-in-progress related to firearms law broadly defined, including Second Amendment history and doctrine, federal and state gun regulation, and the intersection between firearms law and other areas of law.  The Firearms WIP Conference is the only legal works-in-progress event specifically focused on firearms law. Summaries of past conferences, including paper titles and attendees, are available here: 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.

Conference sessions are lively discussions among authors, discussants, and participants. Each accepted paper is assigned to a panel of three to four scholars with a moderator who will summarize the papers and then lead a discussion. Sessions run from Thursday afternoon through Friday afternoon. There will be a casual dinner and social event Thursday evening following the afternoon session. All conference participants are expected to read the papers in advance and to attend the entire conference.

We accept papers on a wide array of topics related to gun regulation, including from scholars who are new to the field and interested in exploring the interaction between firearms law and other disciplines. Although participation at the conference is by invitation only, we welcome paper proposals from scholars and practitioners all over the world. Please feel free to share this call for submissions widely.

Submission Details

• Titles and abstracts of papers should be submitted electronically to [e-mail] no later than February 9, 2024. Abstracts should be no longer than one page, and should be submitted as a PDF file saved under the file name "[last name, first name] – [paper title]." Please use the subject line "WIP Paper Submission" in your email.
• Authors will be informed whether their paper has been accepted no later than March 8, 2024.
• Workshop versions of accepted papers will be due in early May, so that they can be circulated to moderators and other conference participants in advance of the conference.

We expect that participants' home institutions will cover travel expenses to the extent possible.  However, the Duke CFL and Wyoming FRC are able to cover some costs of lodging and travel expenses for authors who would not otherwise be able to attend.  This support is intended to encourage submissions from junior faculty, especially those who are new to the field.

Some background: The Firearms WIP Conference is modeled in part after Yale Law School's Freedom of Expression Scholars Conference (FESC). The Duke and Wyoming Centers are both committed to developing to developing the Second Amendment (and arms law in general) as a field of scholarly study. Although the scholars affiliated with Duke and Wyoming have their own viewpoints—as expressed in their articles, amicus briefs, and other works—both centers publish diverse viewpoints. To the best of my knowledge, they are the only university centers on arms law or policy that do so.

If your paper is accepted for the conference, potential commenters include Duke's Professors Joseph Blocher and Darrell A.H. Miller, Duke's Executive Director Andrew Willinger, Wyoming's Prof. George Mocsary, and Wyoming's Senior Fellows Ashley Hlebinsky and me. Whether the commenters agree or disagree with your perspectives, they will provide constructive suggestions to improve your paper.