Category: Gun Control

CCRKBA: Lawsuit Settlement of Texas Church Shooting “Another Biden Gun Control Failure”

BELLEVUE, WA – Wednesday’s announcement by the Biden Justice Department that it has “reached a $144 million agreement in principle” to settle civil lawsuits stemming from the 2017 mass shooting at a Texas church is one more black mark in Joe Biden’s long record of failed gun control policies, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.

The killer, Devin Patrick Kelley, pleaded guilty to domestic violence and was subsequently dismissed from the U.S. Air Force in 2014 with a bad conduct discharge. Yet, in April 2016, he bought the rifle used in the shooting at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas after lying on the federal background check Form 4473 about his conviction while in the Air Force in 2012. An investigation revealed the Air Force failed to notify the National Instant Check System of Kelley’s guilty plea, which would have disqualified him from buying or owning firearms. Read more

Gun Control

SAF Attorneys File Brief Opposing Minnesota’s Request to Stay Injunction

BELLEVUE, WA – Attorneys for the Second Amendment Foundation and its allies in a Minnesota case challenging the state prohibition on handgun permits for young adults aged 18-20 have filed a brief asking the federal court to deny a state request to stay the injunction issued last week which declared the permitting age restriction unconstitutional.

SAF is joined in the case by the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, Firearms Policy Coalition and three young adults, Austin Dye, Axel Anderson and Kristin Worth, the latter for whom the case is named. They are represented by attorneys Blair W. Nelson of Bemidji, Minn., and David H. Thompson, Peter A. Patterson and William V. Bergstrom at Cooper & Kirk in Washington, D.C. The case is known as Worth v. Harrington.

In her 50-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez wrote, “The Supreme Court’s recent decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen…compels the conclusion that Minnesota’s permitting age restriction is unconstitutional, and Plaintiffs are entitled to judgment as a matter of law.”

Judge Menendez subsequently added, “(T)he Court concludes that the text of the Second Amendment includes within the right to keep and bear arms 18-to-20-year-olds, and therefore, the Second Amendment ‘presumptively guarantees [Plaintiffs’] right to ‘bear’ arms in public for self-defense.’” Read more

Gun Control

SAF Victory in Minnesota: Judge Allows CCW for Young Adults

A federal judge in Minnesota on Friday struck down a state restriction limiting handgun carry permits to those over age 21, in a case brought by the Second Amendment Foundation, citing Second Amendment guidelines in last year’s Supreme Court Bruen ruling. The case is known as Worth v. Harrington.

SAF is joined in the case by the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, Firearms Policy Coalition and three young adults, Austin Dye, Axel Anderson and Kristin Worth, the latter for whom the case is named. They are represented by attorneys Blair W. Nelson of Bemidji, Minn., and David H. Thompson, Peter A. Patterson and William V. Bergstrom at Cooper & Kirk in Washington, D.C.

In her decision, U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez wrote, “The Supreme Court’s recent decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen…compels the conclusion that Minnesota’s permitting age restriction is unconstitutional, and Plaintiffs are entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Read more

Gun Control

Federal Judge Grants SAF Preliminary Injunction in Cal. Handgun Roster Case

BELLEVUE, WA – A federal judge in California has issued an order granting a preliminary injunction against enforcement of sections of the state’s “Unsafe Handgun Act” (UHA), while denying a preliminary injunction request against other sections of the law, in a Second Amendment Foundation case.

However, Chief Judge Dana M. Sabraw of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California also stayed the ruling pending appeal or further hearing on the matter, whichever occurs first. A telephone conference is scheduled April 14 “at which time the parties shall advise the Court how they wish to proceed.”

SAF is joined in the case by North County Shooting Center, Gunfighter Tactical, the Firearms Policy Coalition, San Diego County Gun Owners, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and several private citizens, including Lana Rae Renna, for whom the case is named. They are represented by attorneys Raymond DiGuiseppe of Southport, N.C., Michael Sousa of San Diego, Calif., and William Sack of Havertown, Pa.

The case, originally filed in late 2020, challenges the requirements of California’s UHA, which includes a codified “roster” of acceptable handguns. The roster limits handgun sales to those models that satisfy numerous testing and safety feature requirements, such as a “chamber loaded indicator” (CLI) and “magazine disconnect mechanism” (MDM) and microstamping, which plaintiffs say are not required in 47 other states. The requirements have essentially prevented the sale of modern up-to-date handguns, as no new models have been added to the roster’s approved list for more than a decade. Meanwhile, the limited number of handguns now on the list continues to shrink because of the testing and safety feature requirements. Read more

Gun Control

CCRKBA to Congress: “Instead of More Research, Make Schools Hard Targets”

BELLEVUE, WA – The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms has blasted Capitol Hill Democrats for once again pushing legislation to finance “gun violence prevention research” in response to the Nashville tragedy, and instead called on Congress to provide funding to make schools “hard targets.”

“Anti-gun Democrats want to spend $50 million a year for the next five years to finance boondoggle research by the CDC under something called the ‘Gun Violence Prevention Research Act,” noted CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “That $250 million would be far better spent supporting local districts to hire armed school resource officers, improve school building security, and/or provide funding to local police agencies for personnel whose job is to protect schools.

“Democrats want to make it appear they’re doing something by spending a fortune in taxpayers’ money for research by the CDC which,” he continued, “experience tells us will result in recommendations for additional gun control, while not preventing a single crime. Democrats want to sit around for the next five years pontificating about nasty-looking guns while parents, teachers, and local law enforcement want action now.

“Why spend five more years on unproductive research which,” Gottlieb contended, “we all know, will ultimately recommend more research? It translates to job perpetuation for bureaucrats who do nothing while our schools remain vulnerable soft targets. Read more

Gun Control, Self Defense

North Carolina Legislature Overrides Veto, Abolishes 104-Year-Old Jim Crow Pistol Permit Law

North Carolina’s General Assembly vetoed to overturn Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of Senate Bill 41, legislation that scraps the state’s 104-year-old racist Jim Crow-era law for permit-to-purchase pistol requirements.

The new law strikes the Tar Heel State’s requirement that sheriffs make a “good moral character” judgement on North Carolinians seeking to purchase a handgun. The state legislature’s override of Gov. Cooper’s veto means the state will instead rely on the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) to verify that every purchase of a firearm is only allowed for those who can pass the instant background check.

“This is a tremendous victory for North Carolina and a long-overdue move to relegate this racist Jim Crow-era law to the ash heap of history,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel. “Governor Cooper’s insistence of retaining this ill-conceived relic of a discriminatory era was wrong and the firearm industry is grateful to the North Carolina legislators to put an end to this scheme that only served to deny citizens their Second Amendment rights.” Read more

Gun Control

NSSF: Arizona Governor’s Veto Embraces ‘WOKE’ Discrimination Over State Businesses

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Arizona’s Gov. Katie Hobbs sided with “woke” Wall Street corporations over Grand Canyon State businesses and protecting the free exercise of rights when she vetoed Senate Bill 1096, the bipartisan Firearm Industry Nondiscrimination (FIND) Act.

The FIND legislation would have ensured firearm-related businesses have fair access to financial services and corporate entities wouldn’t benefit from taxpayer-funded contracts while using those profits to discriminate against constitutionally-protected firearm businesses. The legislation would have made corporations ineligible for state or municipal contracts if they hold discriminatory policies against firearm businesses. The legislation was strongly supported by NSSF – The Firearm Industry Trade Association.

In essence, the legislation would have enabled Arizona to choose to do business with those companies that do not discriminate based on an industry they may not like or with which they disagree. The legislation was passed by the state Senate 16-13 and by the state’s House of Representatives 31-29.

“Governor Hobbs chose to allow Arizona businesses to be subjected to out-of-state discriminatory policies that put special interests over business success,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel. “This shows state residents that their governor’s loyalties are with Wall Street’s ‘woke’ agenda and not with protecting homegrown businesses or protecting the Second Amendment rights of Arizona’s citizens.”

Gov. Hobbs issued a statement claiming the legislation was “unnecessary” and urged “the legislature to focus on providing real solutions to the real challenges faced by our state.” It is the firearm industry that executes a campaign called Real Solutions. Safer Communities.® that works to ensure firearms remain beyond the reach of those who cannot be trusted to possess them. Read more

Gun Control

CCRKBA: It’s A Mental Health Crisis, Not A Firearms Crisis

BELLEVUE, WA – As more alarming details emerge about the transgender woman responsible for Monday’s horrific school shooting in Nashville, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms says the facts support only one conclusion: America has a mental health crisis, not a firearms crisis.

“Firearms don’t have a brain to hate with, or a finger to pull their own trigger,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb.

“What happened Monday in Nashville should serve as a reminder that while the gun prohibition lobby and its allies in Congress want to restrict the rights of law-abiding citizens,” Gottlieb said, “they are perfectly happy to let people such as the perpetrator of this rampage fall through the cracks. Now it’s being reported she was under a doctor’s care for some sort of emotional disorder.

“Our background check system is a mess,” he continued, “bad data in, bad results out, and Joe Biden wants to keep it that way. There are thousands of people in the system who don’t belong there, while someone like Audrey Hale probably should have been. Even her parents reportedly believe she couldn’t be trusted with a firearm.” Read more

Gun Control

NSSF Applauds Utah Governor Signing Anti-ESG Discrimination Laws

WASHINGTON, D.C. — NSSF®, The Firearm Industry Trade Association, applauds Utah Gov. Spencer Cox’s signature on a package of laws that will end “woke” corporate discrimination against firearm-related businesses. The laws were recently signed and target corporations that discriminate against the firearm industry by making them ineligible for state and municipal contracts, among other provisions. These laws ensure that Utah will choose to do business with those companies that do not discriminate based on a Constitutionally-protected industry they may not like or with which they disagree.

“These laws ensure that lawful businesses, including the firearm industry, are free from the pressures of special interests that attempt to sway public policy through discriminatory policies that put ‘wokeism’ ahead of Constitutional rights,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel. “Corporations, especially Wall Street banks, have abused taxpayer-funded state contracts to force public policy outside of legislative authorities. The firearm industry is grateful to the Utah Legislature and Governor Cox for their principled stand that public policy must remain accountable to the people who elect their representatives, not unaccountable corporate elites in Wall Street ivory towers.”

Gov. Cox signed a package of legislation that includes:

SB 97: a law that prohibits a Utah public entity from entering into a contract with a company that engages in certain boycott actions, including businesses that engage in, facilitate, or support the manufacture, distribution, sale, or use of firearms. Read more

Gun Control

SAF Files Respondent’s Brief in California Gun Owner Privacy Case

BELLEVUE, WA – Attorneys representing the Second Amendment Foundation and its partners in a case concerning gun owner privacy in California have filed a respondent’s brief in the ongoing case of Barba v. Bonta, challenging the constitutionality of a 2021 law requiring the California Department of Justice (CAL/DOJ) to share extensive personal identifying information of gun owners in the state with a non-government research group.

Joining SAF in this legal action are the Firearms Policy Coalition, California Gun Rights Foundation, San Diego County Gun Owners PAC, Orange County Gun Owners PAC, Inland Empire Gun Owners PAC and Ashleymarie Barba, for whom the lawsuit is named. They are represented by attorneys Bradley A. Benbrook and Stephen M. Duvernay at the Benbrook Law Group in Sacramento. The brief was filed with the California Court of Appeals, Fourth Appellate District, Division One.

In California, considerable personal information is required to purchase firearms or ammunition. This information is collected by CAL/DOJ. With passage of Assembly Bill 173 two years ago, CAL/DOJ now shares this information with the California Firearm Violence Research Center at UC Davis for non-law enforcement purposes. This has never been done before.

“It was an outrage when California lawmakers added this requirement to the state penal code,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb, “so we immediately sued to protect the privacy of millions of law-abiding gun owners in the state. AB 173 amounted to a radical change to the privacy previously afforded to California gun owners, and this cannot possibly be legal or constitutional. Read more

Gun Control
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