Dave Kopel

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Dave Kopel is an American author, attorney, political science researcher and contributing editor to several publications.

He is currently Research Director of the Independence Institute, Associate Policy Analyst at the Cato Institute, contributor to the National Review magazine and Volokh Conspiracy legal blog. Previously he was Adjunct Professor of Law, New York University, on the Board of Directors of the Colorado Union of Taxpayers, and Former Assistant Attorney General for Colorado. He is a leading critic of Michael Moore and provided a list of what he characterized as Moore's "deceits" ^[1] ^[2]. He appeared in FahrenHYPE 9/11, a film that challenges the allegation in Fahrenheit 9/11.

Kopel earned a B.A. in History with Highest Honors from Brown University and won the National Geographic Society Prize for best History thesis with a biography of Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.^[3] Afterwards, he went on to the University of Michigan Law School and graduated magna cum laude (he was also a contributing editor of the Michigan Law Review).

Politically he is a life-long registered Democrat but a confessed small government libertarian at heart who voted for Ralph Nader. ^[4]

In 1996 he and former Illinois senator Paul Simon penned an article in National Law Journal criticizing the practice of mandatory minimum sentence.^[5]

Kopel opposes gun control and is a benefactor member of the National Rifle Association. His articles on gun control and gun violence has been cited in the Opposing Viewpoints Series.^[6]

Kopel is also a member of many other organizations including Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (life member), American Civil Liberties Union, American Society of Criminology, National Council of Editorial Writers, , National Society of Newspaper Columnists, and Society of Christian Philosophers.