By SUSAN KENNEDY
Sen. Orrin Hatch will speak at the J. Reuben Clark Law School Saturday as part of a Second Amendment Symposium hosted by BYU’s chapter of the Federalist Society.
Saturday’s event is the first of its kind, because students were responsible for soliciting participation from scholars, planning the program and conducting fundraising.
“It isn’t easy for students to gather the support for a scholarly symposium,” said Adam Kunz, events director for the Federalist Society. “With a lot of fantastic help from faculty advisers, Senator Hatch’s staff and the Firearms Civil Rights Legal Defense Fund, we have been able to start a valuable tradition of student-sponsored constitutional scholarship.”
The Federalist Society, a student organization dedicated to Constitutional and public policy studies, has gathered legal scholars from across the nation to speak about legal trends in the Second Amendment and the right to keep and bear arms.
“The symposium is organized to demonstrate the legal process from a lawyer advising his clients about their rights and their prospects in court, through appeals and the public policy process. It is about interpreting the Constitution,” Kunz said.
Scholars will speak about the origin, making and impact of the Second Amendment, exploring topics such as what the Founders mean by the right to keep and bear arms and how we should interpret that right today.
The symposium is free of charge and open to the public.
The morning session will begin at 9 a.m. in 205 JRCB. The session will feature three speakers: Steven A. Gunn, partner in Ray, Quinney & Nebeker based in Salt Lake City; David Harmer, former congressional candidate in Utah’s 2nd District; and David I. Caplan of the National Rifle Association.
Hatch will open the afternoon session, which will begin at 2 p.m. in 303 JRCB. He will be followed by Kevin Worthen, BYU professor of law, and Margueritte Driessen, also a professor of law at BYU.
A panel discussion, which will entertain questions and answers from the audience, will follow.
Sanford Levinson, of the University of Texas Law School, will give the final remarks.
