Don Bernard Kates Jr., (January 26, 1941 – November 1, 2016) was an American lawyer and research fellow with

The Independent Institute The Independent Institute is an American libertarian think tank based in Oakland, California. Founded in 1986 by David J. Theroux, the institute focuses on political, social, economic, legal, environmental, and foreign policy issues. It has mor ...

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

who focused on promoting gun rights. His books include ''Armed: New Perspectives On Gun Control'', ''Restricting Handguns: The Liberal Skeptics Speak Out'', ''Firearms and Violence: Issues of Public Policy'', and ''The Great American Gun Debate: Essays on Firearms and Violence'' (with Gary Kleck). As a civil liberties lawyer he was retained by the National Rifle Association to represent gun owners attacking the constitutionality of certain firearms laws. Kates also wrote extensively on criminological issues related to firearms. Kates grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and attended

Reed College Reed College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland neighborhood, with Tudor-Gothic style architecture, and a forested canyon nature preserve at ...

and

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & Worl ...

. After three years of teaching

constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in fe ...

, criminal law, and criminal procedure at

Saint Louis University School of Law Saint Louis University School of Law, also known as SLU LAW, is a private American law school located in St. Louis, Missouri. It is one of the professional graduate schools of Saint Louis University. The University hosted a law school briefly fr ...

, he returned to San Francisco where he practiced law and wrote on criminology. He was editor of ''Firearms and Violence: Issues of Public Policy'' (San Francisco: 1984, Pacific Research Institute) and the Winter 1986 issue of ''Law & Contemporary Problems''. He was author of the entry on the Second Amendment in M. Levy & K. Karst, ''The Encyclopedia of the American Constitution''; "Firearms and Violence: Old Premises, Current Evidence," in T. Gurr (ed.), ''Violence in America'' (1989); and "Precautionary Handgun Ownership: Reasonable Choice or Dangerous Delusion," B. Danto (ed.), ''Gun Control and Criminal Homicide'', forthcoming (1990). Kates died on November 1, 2016.

Bibliography

*''Armed: New Perspectives on Gun Control'' (w/

Gary Kleck Gary Kleck (born March 2, 1951) is a criminologist and the David J. Bordua Professor Emeritus of Criminology at Florida State University. Early life and education Kleck was born in Lombard, Illinois, to William and Joyce Kleck. He attended Gle ...

, gun control, Prometheus Books, 2001) *''Firearms and Violence: Issues of Public Policy'' Publisher: Ballinger Publishing Company (May 1984) , *''The Great American Gun Debate: Essays on Firearms & Violence'' (w/

and John K. Lattimer, gun control, Pacific Research Institute, 1997) *''Restricting Handguns: The Liberal Skeptics Speak Out'' Publisher: North River Press Publishing Corporation (February 1979) ,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kates, Don 1941 births 2016 deaths American criminologists California lawyers Reed College alumni Writers from California Yale Law School alumni 20th-century American lawyers