Category: Gun Control

USCCA Celebrates Defeat of Pittsburgh Gun Laws

USCCA Update: America’s Responsible Protectors Win Their Day in Pennsylvania Court

The USSCA is hailing a long overdue decision by a Pennsylvania judge this week for striking down all three of Pittsburgh’s restrictive and unlawful gun ordinances that were passed by the City Council earlier this year. Calling it “a huge victory for self-defense and gun rights advocates,” the USCCA has been a vocal opponent of the Pittsburgh ordinances since they were first announced last December.

USCCA’s President and Founder Tim Schmidt made the following statement today:

“Of course, we’re thrilled with the decision. It’s just not every day you see a victory like this for responsibly armed Americans. A huge part of the problem is that many people simply don’t understand this simple fact: Responsible gun owners are amongst the most law-abiding citizens in the country. At the end of the day, we’re focused on protecting the people we love.” Read more

Gun Control

NSSF Welcomes Federal Court’s Dismissal of Case Against Firearms Manufacturers

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Shooting Sports Foundation® (NSSF®) welcomes the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio Eastern Division’s dismissal with prejudice of the Primus Group v. Smith & Wesson, et. al. case. The decision was delivered Oct. 9, brushing aside the frivolous claims against several AR-15 firearms manufacturers, including Smith & Wesson, Remington Arms Company, Sig Sauer, Sturm, Ruger & Company, Colt’s Manufacturing and Armalite.“This decision by the federal judge to dismiss with prejudice this frivolous case is pleasing, if not unexpected,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President of Government Relations and Public Affairs and General Counsel. “These are lawful and federally-regulated AR-15 modern sporting rifle manufacturers that make semiautomatic rifles for lawful purposes. The judge was absolutely correct to assert that the proper venue to establish public firearms policy is through the legislature and not the courts.”

Primus Group, LLC, is an entertainment venue in Columbus, Ohio. The limited liability company filed suit after the tragic murders in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio. They claimed racketeering, intentional misrepresentation claims and “a clear and present danger” of all American lives due to “assault weapons.” The modern sporting rifles manufactured and sold by the companies named as defendants are semiautomatic rifles, meaning one round is fired for each trigger pull.

The court found the plaintiffs had no standing to bring the case against the defendants. This decision rightfully asserts that those who purposefully and criminally misuse firearms are the ones who are responsible for those crimes. It further affirms that activist lawsuits to prompt judicial action are not the proper avenue to establish policy. Read more

Gun Control

Buckeye Firearms Association: Gov. DeWine Rejects “Red Flag”

Protecting the Rights of 4 Million Ohio Gun OwnersContact: Dean Rieck

drieck@buckeyefirearms.org

614-882-8823

Gov. DeWine Rejects “Red Flag,” Introduces Plan Focused on Mental Health

Buckeye Firearms Association has consistently opposed “red flag” laws. Current law, when properly enforced provides the tools needed to deal with dangerous people.

Since early August, when Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced a 17-point plan to address violence, administration officials said they would research the issue and sought to do something different.

Based on comments made by the Governor and Lt. Governor at a press conference today, it appears the administration has rejected “red flag” and opted to focus on providing medical assistance for those suspected of being a danger to themselves or others.

“We have said for years that we need to focus on mental health and enforce current law,” said Dean Rieck, Executive Director of Buckeye Firearms Association. Read more

Gun Control

Supreme Court Denies New York’s “Mootness” Claim, Will Hear Gun Case Brought by NYSRPA

SAF HAILS HIGH COURT’S DECISION TO MOVE N.Y. GUN LAW CHALLENGE FORWARD

Contact: Alan Gottlieb (425) 454-7012

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation today cheered the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to move forward with a case that challenges a New York City gun law that was so restrictive the city amended it, and then tried to get the high court to dismiss the case.

“We’re delighted that the Supreme Court will move this important case forward,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “The Second Amendment Foundation has filed an amicus brief in support of overturning this egregious attempt to infringe on the right to keep and bear arms. We are confident that the high court will ultimately rule in favor of Second Amendment rights.”

The city scrambled to change the law once the court decided to accept the case for review earlier this year. The challenge is brought by the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association.

“It’s outrageous that the city has furiously tried to derail this case by changing the law,” Gottlieb stated. “That says volumes not only about the city’s fear of having to defend their restrictive gun control law before the court, but it also suggests to us that the city knew all along their law would not pass the constitutional smell test under any level of scrutiny, and they panicked.

“New York, and other state and local governments, have been getting away with adopting ridiculously oppressive gun regulations because lower courts have thumbed their noses at previous Supreme Court rulings in favor of the Second Amendment,” he added.

“Equally outrageous, if not more so,” Gottlieb observed, “was the attempt by Capitol Hill Democrats led by Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse to bully the high court by filing a brief to dismiss the case or face the possibility that Democrats would pack the court. How dare Whitehouse and his associates attempt such coercion. We’re proud of the Supreme Court justices for ignoring this threat to their independence as a separate branch of government.

“The Democrats’ political demagoguery obviously backfired, and rightly so,” he said. “It just might cost them in November 2020.”

The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 650,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.

Gun Control

NRA: San Francisco Backs Down

National Rifle Association of America | 11250 Waples Mill Road | Fairfax, VA 22030San Francisco Backs Down: Facing a Lawsuit by the NRA, Mayor Breed Declares – We Won’t Blacklist NRA Contractors

FAIRFAX, Va.– The National Rifle Association of America declared victory in San Francisco today, after Mayor London Breed formally disavowed key provisions of a municipal resolution that signaled the blacklisting of contractors linked to the Second Amendment advocacy group.

On September 3, 2019, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, which is the legislative body for the City and County of San Francisco, unanimously approved a resolution that called for the City to investigate ties between its contractors and vendors and the NRA. The city declared the NRA was a “domestic terrorist organization.” Not surprisingly, the NRA sued.

On September 9, 2019, less than a week after the resolution was enacted, the NRA challenged it as government action adversely affecting its First Amendment rights. In its filing, the NRA called the resolution a “blacklisting” measure, and urged San Francisco’s federal court to “step in and instruct elected officials that freedom of speech means you cannot silence or punish those with whom you disagree.”

Late last week, rather than await “instruction” from a court, San Francisco Mayor London Breed backed down. In a formal memorandum to City officials, she declared that “no [municipal] department will take steps to restrict any contractor from doing business with the NRA or to restrict City contracting opportunities for any business that has any relationship with the NRA.” Read more

Firearms, Gun Control

NSSF Praises States for Submission of Disqualifying Mental Health Records to NICS

WASHINGTON — The National Shooting Sports Foundation® (NSSF®) today is praising a milestone achievement of a 241 percent increase of state submissions of adjudicated mental health records to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System database since the firearms industry launched the FixNICS® campaign in 2013. Just 1.7 million such records existed in the FBI’s database when NSSF began the campaign in 2013 to fix the background check system. Today, there are more than 5.6 million records.

“This remarkable achievement demonstrates the firearms industry’s commitment to real solutions for safer communities,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President of Government Relations and Public Affairs and General Counsel. “The firearms industry conceived of the point-of-purchase instant background check system that exists today. We have spent years working successfully to fix the system so that it works as intended. We have improved the quality and accuracy of background checks by changing the law in 16 states and at the federal level. It is critical that our background checks are updated, accurate and reliable. Firearms retailers rely upon this system to be accurate to ensure firearms do not fall into the wrong hands. This milestone is what bipartisan common ground looks like. It is a development that we can all agree is good for the safety of our communities.”

A background check is only as good as the records in the database. That is why the firearms industry supports improving the current NICS system by increasing the number of prohibiting records states submit to the FBI databases, helping to prevent illegal transfers of firearms to those who are prohibited from owning firearms under current law. Including these missing records will help ensure more accurate and complete background checks.

State participation in the NICS system is voluntary because the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution does not allow the federal government to mandate the states to submit records. NSSF worked with 16 states to change laws to increase submissions of disqualifying records. NSSF also worked with U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) on the bipartisan FixNICS legislation that was signed into law by President Trump to require federal agencies to submit all disqualifying records, incentivizes states to improve their overall reporting and directs more federal funding to the accurate reporting of domestic violence records.

Several states still do not fully submit their disqualifying records to help keep firearms from falling into the hands of those prohibited by law from purchasing them. The firearms industry remains committed to real solutions like fixing the broken background check system to make our communities safe. Read more

Firearms, Gun Control

CCRKBA: Dems Ramped-Up Gun Control Push

BELLEVUE, WA – Congressional Democrats “just don’t get it,” the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today after the House Judiciary Committee moved three gun control bills on party lines, including one to limit magazine capacity to 10 rounds.

“So far,” CCRRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb observed, “all Democrats have accomplished with their gun prohibition agenda is increase gun sales by 15 percent over the last month. This happens every time they introduce or pass new restrictions. They just don’t get it.”

He recalled how previous gun control crusades have accomplished only two things, neither of which Congressional Democrats care to admit. First, campaigns to erode the Second Amendment historically have sent increasing numbers of Americans to gun shops and sporting goods stores to buy firearms, often for the first time. Second, such efforts push people away from the Democratic Party, which no longer represents their values.

“Their attack on Second Amendment rights is really going to increase gun owner voter turnout in the 2020 elections,” Gottlieb predicted. “Remember the elections in 1994, 2000 and 2016. Those elections should serve as reminders that American gun owners are tired of being treated like second-class citizens. Read more

Gun Control

Walmart to End Handgun Ammo Sales

GW: Since Walmart’s decision to stop selling certain ammo will have no bearing on demand, this is good news for those outlets that will continue selling the same ammo, because they’ll get the business.

Following recent mass shootings, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon has announced the retail giant will stop the sale of handguns in Alaska, and stop selling handgun ammunition “once it sells out its current inventory.” Walmart is also asking customers not to carry firearms in stores in states with open carry laws unless they are authorized law enforcement officers. Walmart says it represents two percent of U.S. gun sales and around 20 percent of all ammunition sales. The sales numbers are expected to drop to about 6-9 percent when the change is enacted.

Ammunition, Gun Control

Second Amendment Lawsuit Lawsuit Challenging California’s “Assault Weapon” Ban Filed

Second Amendment Lawsuit Challenging California “Assault Weapon” Ban Filed in San Diego Federal Court

SAN DIEGO— Attorneys for three San Diego residents and one San Diego-based advocacy organization filed a federal lawsuit challenging California’s ban on so-called “assault weapons”. A copy of the motion and brief can be viewed or downloaded at www.firearmspolicy.org/legal .

“This District Court already ruled the state’s prohibition on the possession of large-capacity magazines is unconstitutional, and enjoined and prohibited enforcement of those provisions of the Code that would have prohibited their possession,” the plaintiffs say in their complaint. “Both implicit and explicit in this District Court’s ruling was the ability to use such magazines if otherwise lawfully possessed” in legally-possessed firearms. Read more

Gun Control

SAF: Philly Shootout Another “Dismal Failure” of Gun Control

BELLEVUE, WA – Wednesday’s shootout in Philadelphia that left six of that city’s courageous police officers injured stands as yet another example of the failure of gun control because the suspect in this case has been identified as having a lengthy criminal background that precluded him from possessing firearms, the Second Amendment Foundation said today.

“The suspect in Philadelphia has done time for drug and gun law violations, and other crimes,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “He’s a walking example of gun control failure and considering his background, we’re wondering why he was even on the streets. His presence in the community underscores the argument for judicial reform, and his ability to obtain firearms shows once again that gun control laws do not prevent determined criminals from getting their hands on guns.”

News reports say the suspect had an AR15 rifle and several handguns. Gottlieb noted that millions of honest citizens have such firearms, which were not designed for the military, and they have harmed nobody. Indeed, he added, private citizens have used such rifles to defend themselves and others from harm.

There was the case in Sutherland Springs, Texas where a private citizen used an AR15 to shoot a crazed mass killer who had opened fire in a nearby church, Gottlieb recalled. In a different case, an Oklahoma man used an AR15 to fatally shoot three home intruders. Last year in Colorado, he continued, a retired Alabama man camping in the Pike National Forest used two AR15 rifles to stop the suspect in a shooting spree. Read more

Gun Control
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