NRA – ILA: Legal Update August 2011
From the NRA – ILA:
To give NRA members, gun owners and AmmoLand readers the latest information on Second Amendment cases filed or supported by the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (www.nraila.org), NRA-ILA is pleased to announce a new online column, the NRA-ILA Legal Update.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2008 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, holding that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms, hundreds of Second Amendment cases have been litigated in federal and state courts. The pace of litigation has only increased since the Court’s 2010 decision in McDonald v. City of Chicago, holding that the right to keep and bear arms is fundamental and protects all Americans. Read more
Mother Jones: “Gun Control Survives the Supreme Court”
Left leaning news outlet Mother Jones offered a biased take on the Second Amendment in a piece titled, “Gun Control Survives the Supreme Court.” Frankly, we at FirearmsTruth think the real story is “Gun Rights Survive the Supreme Court.”
But the story notes:
“In 2008, the US Supreme Court overturned a DC law banning city residents from owning handguns. The decision in District of Columbia v Heller was unprecedented because the sharply divided court found—for the first time—that Americans have an individual right to own guns outside of the ‘well regulated militia’ described in the Second Amendment.”
Once again the media likes to play word games. The wording doesn’t suggest that just the militias could own guns, and once again we ask, do these people not realize that the members of the militias were armed with their own guns!
But the bias doesn’t stop:
“The NRA as well as dozens of criminals have attempted to invoke Heller in court to challenge everything from bans on carrying concealed weapons in public to restrictions on gun ownership by people involved in domestic violence. Almost all of those challenges have failed, according to the Brady Center, including a second lawsuit filed by Dick Heller, the plaintiff in the original Supreme Court case, who sued again to try to invalidate restrictions on semi-automatic weapons in the nation’s capital.”
“Dozens of criminals” says the author. What is she talking about? This also implies that the NRA is somehow culpable with criminals. Shameful, simply shameful.
Second Amendment Foundation Challenges Interstate Handgun Sales Ban
The Second Amendment Foundation this week filed suit in U.S. District Court in Virginia challenging the constitutionality of federal and Virginia provisions barring handgun sales to non-residents.
SAF is joined in the lawsuit by Michelle Lane, a District of Columbia resident who cannot legally purchase handguns because there are no retail firearms dealers inside the District.
The Supreme Court’s 2008 Heller ruling struck down the District’s handgun ban, confirming that individuals have a constitutional right to possess handguns.
SAF and Lane are represented by attorney Alan Gura of Gura & Possessky, PLLC, who won both the Heller ruling and last year’s Supreme Court victory in McDonald v. City of Chicago. Named as defendants are Attorney General Eric Holder and W. Steven Flaherty, superintendent of the Virginia State Police.
“This is an important issue in the era of the national instant background check,” said SAF Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “The NICS check should allow law-abiding citizens like Miss Lane to exercise their Second Amendment rights regardless their place of residence.”
“Americans don’t check their constitutional rights at the state line,” said Gura. “And since Michelle Lane is legally entitled to possess firearms, forcing her to seek a non-existing D.C. dealer to buy a handgun is pointless when perfectly legitimate options exist minutes across the Potomac River.”
“The Supreme Court has ruled that District residents have an individual right, protected by the Constitution, to have a handgun in their home,” Gottlieb noted. “The high court has also ruled that the Second Amendment applies to the states. Existing state and federal statutes violate both the spirit and letter of recent court rulings and the Constitution, and our lawsuit seeks to remedy that situation.”
The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 650,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control. SAF has previously funded successful firearms-related suits against the cities of Los Angeles; New Haven, CT; and San Francisco on behalf of American gun owners, a lawsuit against the cities suing gun makers and an amicus brief and fund for the Emerson case holding the Second Amendment as an individual right.
USA Today’s View: Gun laws are taking a radical turn
In an op-ed piece this week the national newspaper USA Today offered its thoughts on gun laws. We respect their opinion, but think they did so with some unfair statements. First they led off by noting:
“When it comes to gun fights, things are pretty quiet on the Potomac these days. Democrats, cowed by the National Rifle Association’s political clout, have no taste for pushing gun control up the agenda.”
Once again we have to hear about this power of the NRA – which again is painted as being anti-Democratic Party. Isn’t really that the NRA is non-partisan and some Democrats are merely anti-gun? Of course the new Democratic Party is being labeled as the “party of gun control,” but that isn’t the NRA’s doing at all.
Second, the political clout from the NRA comes from the support of the voters. This fact is continually missed by the media.
Much of the op-ed piece is spent talking about Supreme Court rulings and the law.
But the paper concludes by saying:
“From a constitutional perspective, the Supreme Court may have gotten it right. But from a standpoint of public safety, lawmakers are getting it very wrong. A right to keep and bear arms should come with restraints that equally protect those who have no interest in owning them.”
This is a naïve opinion too. We respect different opinions, except we must note that this one is very naïve in its stance. The right to keep and bear arms does not force anyone to own guns. It doesn’t force anyone to carry a gun. The editors stress in the piece that this is because the gun lobby is making a push in some states to overturn concealed carry permits – the rational here it seems is that such permits would put more guns out there.
The truth is that criminals don’t follow the law. Thus, the law wouldn’t protect those who have no interest in owning guns, because the criminals would just carry the guns anyway, permit or no permit.
Court of Appeals to hear Heller 2 Next Monday
In 2008 the Supreme Court ruled that the District of Columbia’s gun laws violated individuals’ Second Amendment Rights. The law struck down by The Court made it virtually impossible for a citizen of the district to own a handgun, even if it never left the person’s house. At first some D.C. public officials vowed to defy the ruling, but instead of risking court sanctions the D.C. council passed new gun laws that make it burdensome to own a handgun. Heller and others sued and the United States Court of Appeals of Appeals for the District Columbia Circuit will hear arguments starting Monday, November 15. Read more
Firearms Law & The Second Amendment Symposium to be Held November 13
The NRA Foundation will sponsor the upcoming 2010 Firearms Law & The Second Amendment Symposium, which will be held on Saturday, November 13, 2010 in Chicago. The even will focus on recent developments in our nation’s courts regarding the Second Amendment, speakers will discuss and debate current Second Amendment scholarship and related issues.
The symposium will feature top Second Amendment scholars and attorneys, discussing topics that range from the history of the Second and Fourteenth Amendments, to the recent Supreme Court decision on Chicago’s handgun ban, to critical recent developments in state legislation.
This event promises to present a thought-provoking discussion of one of the most relevant and important freedoms in the Bill of Rights. Each Symposium registrant will receive a packet containing the panelists’ written materials on the subject- an excellent source for future reference. For guests who are attorneys, this year’s event may once again meet state requirements for continuing legal education.
The event, including all materials, food and beverages, is free.
The Symposium will be held:
Saturday, November 13, 2010
John Marshall Law School
315 South Plymouth Court
Room 1200
Chicago, IL 60604
9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Registration and continental breakfast begins at 8:30 a.m.
Firearms Law & The Second Amendment Symposium
McDonald vs. City of Chicago Audio Released
The Supreme Court ruling this past summer in the case of McDonald vs. City of Chicago was ground breaking, and this week the NRA reported that the June 2010 case is now available as an audio recording.
McDonald v. Chicago Oral Argument
Brady Center and Pittsburgh Challenge NRA Lawsuit
The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence has announced that will represent Pittsburgh pro bono in a case that could go to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The City of Pittsburgh has “urged” the court to thow out the National Rifle Association’s lawsuit that challenged the city’s anti-trafficking laws.
We’ll be sure to follow this case very closely.
[Via Press Release: Pittsburgh Urges Pennsylvania Supreme Court to Throw Out NRA Lawsuit]
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Won’t Get NRA Endorsement
The NRA issued a statement this past weekend, noting the group will not endorse Senate Majority Harry Reid, who is fighting for his political career in this November’s upcoming mid-term election.
The official statement from the National Rifle Association:
Charlotte, NC -- In the coming days and weeks, the NRA Political Victory Fund (NRA-PVF) will be announcing endorsements and candidate ratings in hundreds of federal races, as well as thousands of state legislative races.
Unless these announcements are required by the timing of primary or special elections, the NRA-PVF generally does not issue endorsements while important legislative business is pending.
The NRA-PVF also operates under a long-standing policy that gives preference to incumbent candidates who have voted with the NRA on key issues, which is explained in more detail here. Read more
Chicago Didn’t Enforce Gun Laws Reports New York Times
Irony in the Windy City indeed. We’ve been continuing to report that Chicago had had for years one of the strictest gun laws on the books in the country and yet has seen a wave of gun violence. Mayor Richard Daley, among others, pointed the blame at guns.
The Supreme Court overturned the city’s gun ban earlier this year, a move that Daley has been trying to find a way of fighting at all costs. But in another example of true irony, it is being reported by The New York Times that the gun ban in Chicago wasn’t all that well enforced. Read more
