• Will coincide with 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence

The Firearms Research Center in the University of Wyoming’s College of Law has received a nearly $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to develop a national program that will provide secondary school teachers with nonpartisan, historically grounded content on the origins, legal interpretation and civic implications of the Second Amendment.

Chad Baldwin, Associate Vice President of Communications for UW spoke with SVI about the grant.

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“This is our College of Law, led by professor George Mocsari, who is a Second Amendment expert,” Baldwin stated. “What this grant from the U.S. Department of Education will do is allow them to develop  a national program to provide secondary school teachers with non-partisan, historically grounded content about the Second Amendment. How it’s been interpreted, how it has been used and also the civic implications that can be used across the country.’

“Our project will honor the nation’s 250th anniversary by allowing educators to engage with the complexity and nuance of the country’s founding documents,” Firearms Research Center Executive Director Ashley Hlebinsky says. “As the nation approaches its semiquincentennial, the ability to not only possess an intellectually rigorous grasp of constitutional text, structure and jurisprudence, but also to respectfully discuss and debate with those who possess a range of beliefs, has never been greater.”

Baldwin added that the latest Ken Burns documentary about the American Revolution has been very popular and that this type of content is beneficial for those learning about the history of the country.

“We are very familiar with firearms in this part of the country and it’s part of our culture,” stated Baldwin. “Professor Mocsari is taking a non-partisan approach. It can be a sensitive topic but this is being viewed in the lens of where did it come from and the information behind it. This ties in with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. This will be for K-12 educators and is a substantial project here at UW that will be made available across the country.”

Established in 2023, the Firearms Research Center is a nonpartisan research institution with a mission to promote education, constitutional literacy and legal-historical scholarship regarding the Second Amendment. It regularly hosts conferences and webinars; provides digital learning resources to the public; publishes original research; and maintains a group of academic fellows with wide-ranging beliefs. The center also partners with law enforcement and other public health agencies to educate on firearms safety and suicide prevention.

For more information, visit www.uwyo.edu/law/centers/frc.html