~ RGVRC Affiliate Scholar ~

Jacob D. Charles writes and teaches on the Second Amendment and firearms law, with his primary research interests including the legal regulation of state and private violence, Second Amendment doctrine and theory, and the place of guns in the criminal legal system and tort litigation. His scholarship has appeared or is forthcoming in the Harvard Law Review Forum, Michigan Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Virginia Law Review, Northwestern University Law Review, and Texas Law Review, among others. Charles frequently comments on legal issues surrounding firearm law and politics. His writing for popular audiences has appeared in The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Slate, The Hill, Bloomberg Law, and other outlets. Charles has been quoted in news stories in The New York Times, CNN, NPR, Politifact, and others. He has also been invited to speak in numerous public fora about the Second Amendment and the debates over the history, law, and politics of the right to keep and bear arms. Before entering academia, Charles worked in law firms in Washington, DC, and Raleigh, North Carolina, and clerked for federal judges on the trial and appellate courts. He holds an MA in political science, a JD degree from Duke University, an MA in theology and philosophy from Biola University, and a BA in criminology, law, and society and psychology and social behavior from the University of California, Irvine.