Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) issued the following statement in response to Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón’s letters sent to credit card companies asking them to stop processing payments for select firearm parts, which are legal to purchase under federal law:
When the law isn’t on their side, tyrants will attempt to strongarm the private sector into doing their authoritarian bidding for them. Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón’s latest attack on Second Amendment rights, this time coercive requests to credit card companies to stop processing payments for all purchases of gun parts, is a prime example of such an authoritarian approach to regulation. However, it is notable that Gascón’s letters highlight how California’s voluminous and Byzantine gun control laws fail to prevent crime, and again make clear his policy preference of redlining the rights of the People in spite of the Constitution.
Whether Gascón is ignorant or simply doesn’t care, the fact is that it is not only lawful to self-manufacture arms for personal use, but doing so has been part of the American tradition since before its founding. The U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled that the Second Amendment protects all arms in common use for lawful purposes, and self-made firearms, like all firearms, are overwhelmingly built and possessed by law-abiding people for self-defense and other lawful purposes.
FPC has and will continue to pursue all litigation options to defend and restore the right to self-manufacture firearms and other protected weapons. Executive leadership at American Express, Visa, and Mastercard should not bow to a politician in a political-career death spiral who is on the wrong side of the Constitution and history.
About FPC
Firearms Policy Coalition (firearmspolicy.org), a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization, exists to create a world of maximal human liberty, defend constitutional rights, advance individual liberty, and restore freedom. FPC’s efforts are focused on the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and adjacent issues including freedom of speech, due process, unlawful searches and seizures, separation of powers, asset forfeitures, privacy, encryption, and limited government. The FPC team are next-generation advocates working to achieve the Organization’s strategic objectives through litigation, research, scholarly publications, amicus briefing, legislative and regulatory action, grassroots activism, education, outreach, and other programs. FPC Law (FPCLaw.org), is the nation’s largest public interest legal team focused on the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, and the leader in the Second Amendment litigation and research space.
