Mr. Cottrol is a professor of law and history at George Washington University School of Law, Washington, D.C. and a Trustee of the NRA's Civil Rights Defense Fund. He holds Bachelor and Doctorate degrees in American Studies from Yale University and a Law Degree from Georgetown University.

His publications on the right to bear arms include: The Fifth Auxiliary Right, Yale Law Journal; The Second Amendment: Toward an Afro-Americanist Reconsideration, Georgetown Law Journal; Gun Control and the Constitution: Sources and Explorations on the Second Amendment (Garland Publishing, Inc.) which was selected by the History Book Club; Second Amendment article in The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States (Oxford University Press). Professor Cottrol is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force Reserve Retired.