Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) announced that it has filed its opening brief with the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Cheeseman v. Platkin, its lawsuit challenging New Jersey’s ban on so-called “assault weapons.” The brief can be viewed at firearmspolicy.org/cheeseman.

Earlier this year, the district court held that New Jersey’s ban was unconstitutional “as to the Colt AR-15 for use of self-defense within the home” but left the rest of the restrictions in place. Both sides appealed the court’s ruling.

“The principles established by Heller and confirmed by Bruen should make this a straightforward case,” argues the brief. “The paradigmatic semiautomatic firearm banned by New Jersey is the AR-15 platform rifle. Thirty years ago, the Supreme Court described the AR-15 as a ‘civilian,’ ‘commonplace,’ ‘generally available,’ and ‘traditionally … lawful’ firearm. It remains ‘commonly available,’ and according to the agency charged with administering the Nation’s firearms laws it is ‘one of the most popular firearms in the United States.’” Read more

NSSF®, The Firearm Industry Trade Association, celebrated the announcement that a lawsuit has been filed against Maine’s Attorney General Aaron Frey, seeking declarative and injunctive relief from state authorities enforcing Public Law 2023, Chapter 678, Maine’s new 72-hour waiting period law that denies law-abiding Mainers the ability to take possession of a newly-purchased firearm after they pass an FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) verification. The Plaintiffs have moved for a preliminary injunction to halt enforcement of the law while the challenge is ongoing.

The 72-hour waiting period law was included in a larger gun control package that was enacted by Gov. Janet Mills in August. Several plaintiffs are challenging Maine’s 72-hour delay period by demonstrating that it violates their Second Amendment rights and are asking the court to strike down the law as unconstitutional.

The lawsuit against Attorney General Aaron Frey was filed by several individuals, federally licensed firearm dealers (FFLs), and an organization that provides firearm training. One of the plaintiffs is a domestic-abuse survivor and certified firearm instructor who offers self-defense classes to victims and survivors. The law now prevents the women she assists from adequately defending themselves against abusive partners who pose a credible and imminent threat to their physical safety, as it forces them to wait three days to secure a firearm even when they clear the NICS background check. Likewise, another plaintiff—a federally licensed firearm dealer—has been forced to delay sales to qualified individuals with time-sensitive needs, including a single woman who was being stalked and a married couple whose home was burgled. These stories are emblematic of the countless number of individuals whose rights have been denied and whose safety has been put in jeopardy due to Maine’s 72-hour waiting period. Read more

NSSF®, The Firearm Industry Trade Association, is urging President-elect Donald Trump to take decisive action to disband the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention and put an end to government-funded efforts to infringe upon the Constitutionally-guaranteed Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens. This office, installed under President Joe Biden, never addressed criminal misuse of firearms. Instead, it squandered taxpayer dollars and employed former gun control lobbyists to minimize the American rights to keep and bear arms and propose policies to harass and damage the American firearm and ammunition industry.

President-elect Trump might consider replacing this office with one dedicated to the advancement and preservation of the Second Amendment.

“President-elect Trump has the ability to stand strong with law-abiding Second Amendment supporters and wipe away this unprecedented abuse of government authority that has been used as a blunt instrument against rights that are protected by the U.S. Constitution,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President & General Counsel “Nowhere else, within the U.S. Government, are taxpayers forced to fund efforts to denigrate their rights protected by the law. This office was established to appease the special-interest gun control lobby and donors The Biden-Harris administration has used this office to attempt to justify their unconstitutional and whole-of-government attacks on Second Amendment rights and the industry that makes those rights possible to exercise. This office must no longer exist after January 20, 2025.”

The Biden-Harris administration established The White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention in September 2023 under the direct supervision of Vice President Kamala Harris as the “gun control czar.” From this office, the Biden-Harris administration promulgated policy positions that are egregiously counter to the rights of law-abiding citizens. Staffed by Stefanie Feldman as Director, she once boasted on X that President Biden would defeat firearm manufacturers that he once labelled “the enemy” by overturning the Protection of Lawful Commerce In Arms Act (PLCAA). She posted, “As president, he’ll defeat them again. And, he’ll repeal the non-sensical liability protection for gun manufacturers.” Read more

The Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) announced that Federal District Court Judge Stephen P. McGlynn has ruled in the FPC Law case of Harrel v. Raoul that the Protect Illinois Communities Act (PICA), which bans semi-automatic firearms and their magazines, is unconstitutional. The 168-page decision, which followed a full bench trial, can be viewed at firearmspolicy.org/harrel.

After considering all of the evidence and arguments, the “Court must take action as justice demands,” the Court said in its decision. “PICA is an unconstitutional affront to the Second Amendment and must be enjoined. The Government may not deprive law-abiding citizens of their guaranteed right to self-defense as a means of offense.” However, the Court also stayed the injunction for 30 days to allow the State time to appeal and seek a stay from the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

“We are gratified that the Court properly found that these bans violate the constitutionally protected rights of Illinois residents and visitors. As we clearly showed at trial, PICA fails even under the Seventh Circuit’s misguided test that conflicts with binding Supreme Court precedent,” said FPC President Brandon Combs. “We will continue to fight forward until we eliminate every unconstitutional ban like this throughout the country. Further, we are optimistic that the Supreme Court will soon address bans like these in our Snope v. Brown case out of Maryland, which is pending the Court’s decision on our petition for certiorari. Gun owners across the United States should be confident that the ultimate victory on these issues is coming, likely soon.” Read more

CINCINNATI– Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) announces that a reply brief was filed with the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in C.S. v. McCrumb, an FPC-backed lawsuit challenging a Michigan public school’s ban on pro-gun speech. The brief can be viewed at firearmspolicy.org/mccrumb.

Under the Supreme Court’s “clearly established, settled authority, the School Officials’ speculative, after-the-fact hypothesizing about potential disruption was insufficient to justify their content-based command that [the student] remove a hat they did not like.”

“The First Amendment protects this public school student’s right to engage in peaceful speech in support of the Second Amendment. The Sixth Circuit should make that clear by holding that the school violated her rights and reversing the district court’s absurd ruling,” said FPC President Brandon Combs. Read more

By Glen Wunderlich

Charter Member Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA)

Anti-American, gun-grabbing anti-Constitutionalist liberals can sit back and watch America’s revitalization take place right under Kamala’s nose.

If Kamala Harris’ intention to promote the notion of mandatory gun buy-backs is not anti-Second Amendment – another dance around the Constitution – then how could she square her forked-tongue language that she didn’t want to take anyone’s guns?

She and her ilk will have plenty of time to cry a river.

Let’s go hunting!

A federal judge in New York has issued a permanent injunction against the Cortland Housing Authority (CHA) prohibiting any sort of firearms ban against CHA tenants, in a victory for the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and its fellow plaintiffs.

SAF was joined in this action by three private citizens, Robert Hunter, Elmer Irwin and Doug Merrin. They are represented by attorneys Edward Andrew Paltzik, Serge Krimnus and Meredith Lloyd at Bochner PLLC in New York City. U.S. District Judge Glenn T. Suddaby with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York signed the order.

“Pursuant to Plaintiffs’ claims as set forth in the First Amended Complaint, Defendants, and their respective employees, agents, representatives, service providers and/or contractors, are enjoined from prohibiting Plaintiffs and all other CHA tenants from owning, possessing, transporting, or using firearms for lawful purposes, provided they are otherwise qualified and in compliance with all federal, state, and local laws applicable to the ownership, possession, transportation and use of firearms,” Judge Suddaby wrote.

He also ordered the defendants — CHA and Executive Director Ella M. Diiorio — to pay plaintiffs’ counsel $150,000 for attorney’s fees and costs.

“This is not the first time SAF has successfully challenged a gun ban in a public housing authority facility,” recalled SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “Whenever we are alerted to this sort of thing, we are prepared to challenge it. Bringing these cases simply fulfills our effort to win firearms freedom one lawsuit at a time.”

“At some point,” SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut observed, “it should become abundantly clear to various public housing authorities that gun bans are not allowed. Residents do not leave their constitutional rights at the entrance, as each of our victories over the years have affirmed.” Read more

Attorneys representing the Second Amendment Foundation and its partners in a federal lawsuit challenging the general ban on firearms carry in post office facilities have filed a plaintiffs’ brief supporting their motion for summary judgment in the case.

The brief was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division.

SAF is joined by the Firearms Policy Coalition and two private citizens, Gavin Pate and George Mandry, who are members of both organizations. They are represented by attorneys R. Brent Cooper and S. Hunter Walton at Cooper & Scully, P.C. in Dallas, and David H. Thompson, Peter A. Patterson and Megan M. Wold at Cooper & Kirk in Washington, D.C. The case is known as FPC v. Garland.

In their 22-page brief, SAF and its partners argue, “The Founders did not bar carriage of firearms in Post Offices. Instead, they regulated the improper, threatening, and violent use of weapons in Post Offices. Later generations confirmed this historical tradition by protecting mail carriers with bounties and facilitating carriage, not banning firearms. Post Offices have been a feature of our country from before we were a country, and concerns about threats to Post Offices are as old as Post Offices themselves…Yet, to Plaintiffs’ knowledge, Congress passed no restrictions on the carriage of firearms in U.S. Post Offices during the Founding era, suggesting that the Carry Ban is unconstitutional.” Read more