The Law That Leaked, Part 1

Over in this Volokh Conspiracy post about Dave Kopel’s ten greatest Second Amendment books, some commenters discussed an old piece of serial fiction, a forgotten cautionary tale about the evils of gun registration laws that had run in a leading hunting and fishing magazine of the day, and was penned by one of America’s most prolific and popular authors.

Well, I couldn’t resist that sort of lead-up, so I went and found the issues in question on eBay. Look below the fold to see what I was able to purchase (for a very reasonable price, mind you), gloriously illustrated with full-color paintings (when was the last time you saw that in a magazine)!

I’ve never been a Perry Mason fan, but Erle Stanley Gardner certainly gave us a rousing pro-gun, anti-registration piece of fiction here. He even presciently includes a lawyer named Clinton who — well, you’ll see.

Enjoy! Click to embiggen — so you can read the story, of course! The 1950s ads are quaint, too.