The Gun Club (secret society)
Encyclopedia
The Gun Club is a secret society
of students at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall). Chief Justice Earl Warren
is the Gun Club's only known member.
Though little is known about the secret group, it is known that as of 2011 the Gun Club continues to meet and is composed of "[m]en" who "lived for the drink and died by the gun." Most notably, it is believed that a book (a "tome", in Gun Club parlance), "well hidden" by Members within the law school, has had its pages mutilated and its contents replaced with a flask presumably containing liquor.
Ed Cray, Chief Justice: A Biography of Earl Warren 27 (1997).
Secret society
A secret society is a club or organization whose activities and inner functioning are concealed from non-members. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence agencies or guerrilla insurgencies, which hide their...
of students at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall). Chief Justice Earl Warren
Earl Warren
Earl Warren was the 14th Chief Justice of the United States.He is known for the sweeping decisions of the Warren Court, which ended school segregation and transformed many areas of American law, especially regarding the rights of the accused, ending public-school-sponsored prayer, and requiring...
is the Gun Club's only known member.
Though little is known about the secret group, it is known that as of 2011 the Gun Club continues to meet and is composed of "[m]en" who "lived for the drink and died by the gun." Most notably, it is believed that a book (a "tome", in Gun Club parlance), "well hidden" by Members within the law school, has had its pages mutilated and its contents replaced with a flask presumably containing liquor.
History
It is unknown how the Gun Club began. In his biography of Chief Justice Earl Warren, Ed Cray describes how Warren was invited to become a member of the secretive Gun Club. Membership in the society, based on companionship rather than social standing, nurtured Warren's idealism. While a member, Chief Justice Warren strove to earn "a love between men who would put virtue and honor and loyalty above all else," as a later member put it.Ed Cray, Chief Justice: A Biography of Earl Warren 27 (1997).
External links
- Eris Quod Sum, Ergo Bibamus - Boalt Hall Transcript, Fall 2005
- Gun Club - the Boalt Hall Law Library
- Above the Law, April 14, 2010 - UC-Berkeley’s Gun Club Secret Society Rides Again