SEATTLE – The Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) and FPC Law today announced that it has filed a federal Second and Fourteenth Amendment lawsuit challenging the State of Washington’s unconstitutional ban on common firearm magazines. Case documents for Gabriella Sullivan, et al. v. Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson, et al. are available at FPCLaw.org.

“This is another important case in our FPC Law strategic litigation program that seeks to restore the right to keep and bear arms for all peaceable people. The State of Washington is not exempt from the Constitution. FPC will work to strike down and enjoin enforcement of these unconstitutional and immoral police state policies,” said FPC President Brandon Combs.

On March 23, 2022, Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed Engrossed Senate Bill 5078, which made it illegal for any person in Washington to “manufacture, import, distribute, sell, or offer for sale any large capacity magazine” (defined as “an ammunition feeding device with the capacity to accept more than 10 rounds of ammunition, or any conversion kit, part, or combination of parts from which such a device can be assembled”). In response, FPC Law began to prepare a challenge to the new ban. Read more

For Immediate Release, May 31: Contact: Alan Gottlieb (425) 454-4911

BELLEVUE, WA – In their zeal to create the impression they are taking action in the wake of two horrible mass shootings, the House Judiciary Committee will hold a special session later this week to talk about the so-called “Protecting Our Kids Act,” but the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms says this is just reheated leftovers from the long-used gun control menu that has proven to have been a failure.

The 41-page bill encompasses a wish list of gun control measures, including raising the minimum age for purchasing any semi-auto rifle or shotgun to 21 years. It prohibits straw purchases, which are already illegal. It mandates serial numbers on all firearms, ostensibly to track so-called “ghost guns,” but it sounds suspiciously like a backdoor effort at gun registration, and a prohibition on being able to make your own firearms. The bill will require so-called “safe storage” of firearms, which seems unenforceable at best. It bans so-called “large capacity” magazines, which are actually standard equipment for modern semi-auto rifles and most semi-auto pistols. There is also a section on bump stocks.

“We have very serious misgivings about this legislation,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “especially about the bum’s rush certain members of Congress are using. Congress needs a cooling-off period. We’ve seen in the past how hasty action has resulted in bad legislation, and we shouldn’t be in a hurry to pass something so we can see what’s in it.

“There is much in this bill that smacks of a registration scheme,” he continued. “There are only two reasons to register guns, to tax them, and ultimately to take them, by confiscation, or by passing more legislation at a future date which will outlaw what people can legally own today. Read more

PITTSBURGH, PA – Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) and FPC Action Foundation (FPCAF) today announced an appellate victory in FOAC v. Pittsburgh, Penn., a lawsuit filed in 2019 in response to a gun control scheme enacted by the City and its then-Mayor, Bill Peduto. The opinion, filed earlier today, is available at FPCLaw.org.

In April of 2019, Pittsburgh enacted regulations that, among other things, prohibited the “use” of so-called “assault weapons” and “large capacity magazines.” In response, FPC and FPCAF joined with Firearm Owners Against Crime (FOAC) and three individuals to file a legal challenge, represented by attorney Joshua Prince of Civil Rights Defense Firm, P.C. In October of 2019, the trial court ruled in favor of the FOAC plaintiffs and declared the challenged laws “void and unenforceable due to field preemption by the Legislature.”

Throughout the litigation, the City unsuccessfully argued that the ordinances comply with Pennsylvania’s preemption law, which prohibit local governments from “in any manner regulat[ing] the lawful ownership, possession, transfer or transportation of firearms, ammunition or ammunition components when carried or transported for purposes not prohibited by the laws of this Commonwealth.” But the appellate Commonwealth Court ultimately disagreed.

“Effectively, the [Assault Weapon] and [Large Capacity Magazine] Ordinances single-out these particular, and presumptively lawful, firearms and firearm accessories for differential treatment and outlaw the manner in which they are ‘used,’ including the act of ‘discharge,’” wrote Judge McCullough for the Court. “Further, the Ordinances in effect regulate the ‘ownership’ and/or ‘possession’ of firearms.” Thus, the Court held, “we affirm the order of the trial court and its conclusion that section 6120(a) of the UFA preempts the Ordinances, section 1102.2 of the AW Ordinance, section 1104.3 of the LCM Ordinance, and section 1107.04 of the ER Ordinance.” Read more

SACRAMENTO, CA – No words can adequately express the pain and loss caused by the mass killing of innocent people—including children—at the hands of manifest evil. We grieve for the lives lost and convey our deepest sympathies to those affected by these heinous acts.

Time and time again, we see that evil people intent on causing death, injury, and chaos simply ignore the thousands of federal, state, and local criminal laws that prohibit acts like murder, terrorism, and assault, wreaking havoc until they voluntarily cease, commit suicide, or are stopped by others—usually armed individuals.

Anti-rights politicians, special interest agitators, and the corporate press have—yet again—disgustingly commandeered these tragedies in a rush to enact their agenda of disarmament and authoritarianism. They offer false hope in support of a radical ideology to separate people from their human rights, often at the very moment that the People are most vulnerable and most acutely need to exercise those very rights.

Those who oppose human liberty would have us choose between being disarmed or facing incarceration, locked in a cage for peaceably keeping and bearing arms, as is our right. But fundamental rights are not subject to the tyranny of the majority, and thus, we reject this proposition.

The government has no duty to protect you—you are, and always have been, your own first responder. There will always be weapons in the hands of evil. The only question is whether you are armed and ready to defend life and liberty against that evil. The fundamental human right to keep and bear arms does not come from the government or the Constitution. Our rights exist because we are human, and FPC will continue to defend and restore them. Read more

Contact: Alan Gottlieb (425) 454-4911

BELLEVUE, WA – Alarming new data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) shows 42,915 people were killed in traffic accidents last year, so the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms today suggested a crackdown on automobiles.

“Maybe we should ban cars,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, sarcastically. “After the CDC reported more than 19,000 gun-related homicides in 2020, there was a renewed push to ban certain types of firearms as the solution. No sensible person could honestly believe that placing new restrictions on cars, or guns, would result in a dramatic reduction in tragedy.”

According to the NHTSA, last year’s traffic fatalities were up 10.5 percent over 2020 when 38,824 people were killed and even more over the 2019 count of 36,096. Gottlieb noted far more people died in car crashes than were murdered with firearms in 2020, and it is likely the pattern will continue for 2021. FBI crime data for 2021 will be released in September.

“If you apply the same rationale to cars that gun prohibitionists apply to guns,” Gottlieb suggested, “politicians would be demanding Draconian restrictions on cars and people who drive them. There would be efforts to ban ownership of any vehicle that could cruise along at more than 70 miles-per-hour. We would prohibit young adults from owning cars with automatic transmissions, and there would be efforts to ban big engines with more than six cylinders. Read more