Category: Gun Control

CCRKBA: ‘King County, Washington Murder Spike Typifies National Gun Control Failure’

BELLEVUE, WA – Authorities in Washington’s King County—epicenter of the Northwest’s gun prohibition movement—are alarmed at the continued rise in gun-related homicides and shooting incidents, but nowhere has anyone acknowledged that gun control laws they have supported are an utter failure, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.

“Nothing more clearly illustrates gun control lack of success than the situation in King County,” noted CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “It is reflective of the national trend revealed in the FBI Uniform Crime Report for 2020, showing murders up by 30 percent nationwide. If restricting the gun rights of law-abiding citizens worked, this should not be the case.”

Gottlieb recited the recent failed history of the Seattle-based, and billionaire-backed gun control crusade beginning in 2014 with statewide Initiative 594, requiring so-called “universal background checks” for all gun transfers. This was followed in 2015 by Seattle’s adoption of a special gun control tax on the sale of firearms and ammunition, which has never achieved the revenue forecast of $300,000 to $500,000 annually, and has only driven business out of the city. In 2018, Seattle’s wealthy anti-gun elitists pushed through another statewide gun control initiative, again contending it would reduce gun-related violent crime, but the exact opposite has happened. Read more

Gun Control

SAF in Federal Court Challenge of Calif. Gun Show Prohibition

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation and two California gun rights groups have filed a federal lawsuit challenging the state’s restrictive regulatory scheme covering the sale of firearms and ammunition as it applies to gun show operations in the state.

Joining SAF are the California Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc., South Bay Rod and Gun Club, Inc., B&L Productions, Inc./Crossroads of the West, Captain Jon’s Lockers, LLC; L.A.X. Firing Range, Inc./LAX Ammo and six private citizens. The case is known as B&L Productions v. Newsom.

SAF is represented by noted civil rights attorney Donald Kilmer, who successfully represented SAF in overturning the ban on gun shows at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in San Diego County, where the defendants were ordered to pay plaintiffs over a half-million dollars.

Named as defendants in this case are California Gov. Gavin Newsom in his official and personal capacity, Attorney General Robert Bonta, California Department of Food & Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross, San Diego County District Attorney Stephan Summer, San Diego County Counsel Thomas Montgomery, the 22nd District Agricultural Association and Does 1-50. The 57-page federal complaint was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

“Boiled down to the basics,” explained SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb, “the state has been regulating gun show operations almost out of existence, and more restrictive than brick-and-mortar retail gun shops or even internet sales. This amounts to deprivation of rights under color of local law, including the First Amendment rights of free speech and freedom of assembly, and the 14th Amendment’s equal protection under the law. Read more

Gun Control

SAF Federal Lawsuit Challenges NY Stun Gun, “Taser” Ban

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation has filed a federal lawsuit challenging New York state and municipal laws prohibiting private citizens from possessing and using stun guns and tasers, noting in its complaint, “Most courts have found that bans on stun guns and tasers violate the Second Amendment and are unconstitutional.”

Joining SAF are the Firearms Policy Coalition, Inc., and three private citizens, Nunzio Calce, Shaya Greenfield and Raymond Pezzoli. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Plaintiffs are represented by attorney David Jensen of Beacon, N.Y. The case is known as Calce, et.al. v. City of New York, et. al.

Named as defendants are the City of New York and Police Commissioner Dermot Shea.

“As we explain in our complaint, states and localities have some ability to regulate the keeping and bearing of arms,” noted SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “However, the Second Amendment prevents states and localities from flatly prohibiting law-abiding citizens from keeping bearable arms, and particularly arms that are in common use for the purpose of self-defense.” Read more

Gun Control

New SAF TV AD: “If Biden Can Force Needle in Your Arm, He Can Take Your Guns”

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation has launched a powerful new message to gun owners across the country, warning them, “If Joe Biden can force a needle in your arm, he can take your gun.”

The 60-second TV message includes a clip of Biden telling America, “This is not about freedom or personal choice” in his push for all Americans to get vaccinated, even if they have personal, religious or health concerns. SAF reasons that if Biden—a career anti-gunner—can get away with issuing such a mandate without Congressional approval, he could make the same declaration about surrendering Second Amendment rights.

“Over the past eight months since taking office, Joe Biden has evolved from being an annoying gun control advocate to a dangerously ambitious gun prohibitionist,” observed SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “He hasn’t simply climbed on the gun ban train, he’s now the engineer, portraying so-called ‘gun violence’ as a public health epidemic. He’s perpetuating a myth invented by the gun ban lobby to demonize guns, their owners and the Second Amendment that protects their right to keep and bear arms.” Read more

Gun Control

DOJ Asks More Time to Process Comments on Proposed Arm Brace Rule

Nine months after the Second Amendment Foundation sued the Department of Justice and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in federal court over ATF’s flip on how it regulates stabilizing braces on pistols, the DOJ and SAF jointly asked for a continuation of a stay in the legal action to allow processing of more than 211,000 public comments on a proposed rule on “Factoring Criteria for Firearms with Attached Stabilizing Braces.”

The process is expected to require more than four months.

Under the original proposal, guns with stabilizing braces would suddenly be regulated under the National Firearms Act the same as short-barreled rifles. That would require a special license and $200 fee for each firearm fitted with a brace. Without the special license and fee, guns fitted with the stabilizing braces would be illegal to own.

Back on May 4, the court granted an agreed motion for a stay, which was extended on June 15, after the defendants published the proposed rule in the Federal Register seeking public comment. The comment period was 90 days, during which time the agency was flooded with comments.

According to a Joint Status Report filed with the court, it will take more than 120 days for the DOJ to process all the responses. All parties agreed to the delay, according to SAF and have requested that they be allowed to file another Joint Status Report on or before Jan. 19, 2022. Read more

Gun Control

SAF Invites Attendees to “Join Us Online” for Virtual 2021 GRPC

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation invites run rights activists across the country to participate in the 36th annual Gun Rights Policy Conference, which, due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, will once again be a virtual event held online Sept. 25 and 26, hosted by the Second Amendment Foundation and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

The theme of this year’s conference is “Saving Freedom!” The event will appear on multiple platforms, including YouTube and Facebook.

Last year’s virtual conference had more than 6,500 pre-registered “attendees,” and SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb anticipates equally big participation. This year’s presentations will include a discussion about how COVID impacted Second Amendment supporters, plus a look at the situation in Illinois with FOID licenses. And, of course, there will an in-depth discussion of the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association case that will be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in November. Read more

Gun Control

Court Orders California DOJ to Re-Open “Gun Registration Window”

BELLEVUE, WA – The California Department of Justice has announced the dates when it will re-open registration of so-called “assault weapons” required by a federal court as a result of the successful Second Amendment Foundation lawsuit in the case of Sharp v. Becerra.

The court also ordered the State of California to pay $151,821.42 in legal fees to the plaintiffs.

California owners of affected firearms may complete the registration process during a 90-day period running from January 13, 2022 through April 12, 2022, according to a directive from Luis Lopez, director of the Bureau of Firearms, and Attorney General Rob Bonta.

Registration will be open for eligible “bullet-button” firearms for those persons who would have been eligible to register under Penal Code 30900, if they lawfully possessed the firearm prior to Jan. 1, 2017, and if they attempted to register prior to the original deadline of July 1, 2018, the DOJ said. Read more

Gun Control

Admitting Another Defeat White House Pulls Chipman ATF Nomination

Acknowledging the votes weren’t there for confirmation, the White House has pulled the nomination of David Chipman to head the ATF. “Glad to hear reports the White House is taking my advice and pulling the terrible nomination of David Chipman,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell tweeted. “Absurd that a vocal opponent of Americans’ constitutional rights was ever picked to run ATF.

This is a win for the Second Amendment and law-abiding American citizens.” In a statement, Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) said “I’ve been opposed to David Chipman leading the ATF from the start. He’s an anti-Second Amendment, gun-grabbing radical that should not lead the agency that regulates firearms.”

“The defeat of David Chipman is a victory for all Americans who value the right of self-defense,” said Young Americans for Liberty senior spokesman Eric Brakey,” “Chipman has called for a total ban on private ownership of commonly owned firearms—like the AR-15—while defending the ATF’s use of military-grade weapons to massacre American citizens. President Biden should have never nominated this rabid activist on the payroll of Bloomberg-funded anti-gun groups to lead the ATF in the first place.”

“I want to thank every gun owner and concerned voter who contacted their Senators and helped us stop this dangerous nominee from being confirmed,” said the Second Amendment Foundation’s Alan Gottlieb, “This is a great grassroots victory for the Second Amendment. Gun rights lobby 1, Biden gun ban lobby zero!”

Gun Control

SAF Challenges ‘Assault Weapon’ Ban in Cook County, Illinois

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation today filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois challenging a prohibition in Cook County against the possession, acquisition, gifting, transfer or carrying of so-called “assault weapons.” The case is known as Viramontes v. Cook County.

SAF is joined by the Firearms Policy Coalition and three private citizens, Cutberto Viramontes, Rubi Joyal and Christopher Khaya, all Cook County residents. Named as defendants are Cook County, Toni Preckwinkle, president of the Cook County Board and the county’s chief executive officer; Kimberly M. Foxx, state’s attorney and Sheriff Thomas Dart, in their official capacities. Plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Christian D. Ambler of Stone & Johnson. CHTD in Chicago and David H. Thompson, Peter A. Patterson and William V. Bergstrom with Cooper & Kirk, PLLC, Washington, D.C.

“The county has enacted and enforced a prohibition on semiautomatic modern sporting rifles, which they erroneously describe as ‘assault weapons,’ even though such firearms are in common use all over the country,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “As a result, the county is denying our individual plaintiffs their rights under the Second Amendment to keep and bear arms.” Read more

Gun Control

ATF Comment Period Closing on Stabilizing Brace Rule, SAF Offers Strategy

BELLEVUE, WA – As the Sept. 8 deadline looms for public comment on the proposed rule change regarding handgun stabilizing arm braces, the Second Amendment Foundation has launched an ambitious effort to encourage and guide gun owners to submit comments to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Read SAF’s comments here.

“Time is running out and we want to provide millions of targeted gun owners the means to weigh in on this alarming proposal,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “ATF wants to reclassify millions of stabilizing brace-equipped pistols by making them subject to the National Firearms Act. If that happens, current owners of such pistols would need to register their guns and pay a $200 tax on each one, or turn it in to the ATF, or take one of several other undesirable options.” Read more

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