Robert Dowlut is presently General Counsel for the National Rifle Association. Mr. Dowlut, a member of the District of Columbia bar and Virginia Corporate Counsel State Bar, received his J.D. in 1979 from Howard University School of Law, Washington, D.C. His publications include: The Right to Keep and Bear Arms: A Right to Self-Defense Against Criminals and Despots, 8 Stanford Law & Policy Rev. 25 (1997); Bearing Arms in State Bills of Rights, Judicial Interpretation and Public Housing, 5 St. Thos. L. Rev. 203 (1992); Federal and State Constitutional Guarantees to Arms, 15 Univ. Dayton L. Rev. 59 (1989); The 2nd Amendment: To Keep and Bear Arms, 8 San Fran. Barrister L. J. 8 (1989); The Current Relevancy of Keeping and Bearing Arms, 15 Univ. Balt. L. Forum 32 (1984); The Right to Arms: Does the Constitution or the Predilection of Judges Reign?, 36 Okl. L. Rev. 65 (1983); and State Constitutions and the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, 7 Okl. City Univ. L. Rev. 177 (1982)(lead coauthor). An article of his was cited by the district court in United States v. Emerson, 46 F.Supp2d 598 (N.D. Tex. 1999), and another article was cited twice by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in United States v. Emerson, 270 F.3d 203 (5th Cir. 2001). Additionally, the supreme courts of Kentucky, Nebraska, Oregon, Rhode Island, West Virginia, and Wisconsin cited one of his articles. Mr. Dowlut served with the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division as a paratrooper and with the Army Reserve's 12th Special Forces.