Category: Gun Control

CCRKBA Seeks SCOTUS Review Of Interstate Handgun Sales Case

BELLEVUE, WA – The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms has petitioned the Supreme Court of the United States for review of its case challenging the long-standing ban on interstate handgun sales to law-abiding citizens from other states.

The case, known as Mance v. Whitaker, comes out of the Fifth Circuit and involves a Texas firearms retailer and two would-be customers who reside in Washington, D.C. A federal district court earlier ruled that the interstate handgun transfer ban is facially unconstitutional, which was reversed by a Fifth Circuit panel. The Fifth Circuit denied the petition for rehearing en banc by a fractured vote of 8-7. Plaintiffs in the case include CCRKBA, Andrew and Tracy Hanson of Washington, D.C. and Texas firearms retailer Fredric Mance. They are represented by attorney Alan Gura.

“The ban on interstate handgun sales was adopted decades ago,” noted CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “prior to the advent of the National Instant Check System that is now in place. The Hansons have essentially been denied the ability to legally purchase a handgun from a licensed retailer because of this prohibition. Read more

Gun Control

SAF, Defense Distributed Ask TRO, Injunction Against NJ AG

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation and Defense Distributed have filed a motion in federal court in Texas seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal to prevent enforcement of a new law that they believe is a direct infringement of their First Amendment rights.

On Thursday, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed Senate Bill 2465, which is specifically aimed at censoring SAF and Defense Distributed, violating their First Amendment rights under color of law. During a press conference, Grewal acknowledged that this new measure was designed to prevent publication of instruction codes that would explain how to produce a firearm with a three-dimensional printer.

The motions were filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division. It is part of a broader civil rights action against several governors, attorneys general and other government officials that was brought by SAF and Defense Distributed.

“We’ve had to take this extraordinary step to defend our First Amendment rights because Attorney General Grewal has literally threatened to ‘come after’ us, or anyone else, who is ‘contemplating making a printable gun,’” explained SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “Grewal and the governor aren’t merely trying to stop what people do, now they’re also trying to dictate what people think. That amounts to extremism on steroids.” Read more

Gun Control, Self Defense

SAF: Media Bias Against Guns as Election Looms

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation today condemned what it considers blatant media bias against firearms, which invariably seems to show up in headlines and news reports just prior to an election.

“We’ve got an important midterm election next week,” noted SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb, “and gun control versus gun rights is an important shadow issue because Democrats have already made it clear that guns will be on the agenda if they take control of the Congress.”

He was not surprised that the Associated Press circulated an article headlined “Guns send over 8,000 US kids to ER each year, analysis says.” Gottlieb said it is “no coincidence” that such stories appear before an election.

“Guns haven’t sent anybody anywhere,” Gottlieb observed. “Careless people or criminals misusing guns are responsible, but guns get the blame. The problem is that many people never read past the headline, and this sort of thing contributes to the public’s impression that bias drives such sensational headlines. Read more

Gun Control

SAF Joins California Groups Suing Riverside County, Sheriff Over CCW Policies

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation has joined in a federal lawsuit challenging Riverside County, California and Sheriff Stanley Sniff over the county’s handgun carry license policies, which plaintiffs assert are unconstitutional.

Joining SAF in this legal action are the Calguns Foundation, Firearms Policy Coalition, Firearms Policy Foundation and Madison Society Foundation, and a private citizen, Arie Van Nieuwenhuyzen, a legal resident alien who lives in Riverside County. They are represented by Attorney George M. Lee of Seiler Epstein Ziegler & Applegate, a San Francisco law firm.

“This is not the first time we’ve been involved in a legal action on behalf of a legal resident alien,” noted SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “Mr. Van Nieuwenhuyzen came to this country decades ago and has lived in Riverside for more than 30 years. While he retains his citizenship in The Netherlands, he has raised a family here and operated a business. He is a productive member of the community. Read more

Gun Control, Self Defense

SAF, CCRKBA Join in Amicus Brief Challenging Maryland Gun Law

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms have joined in an amicus (friend of the court) brief in a case challenging Maryland’s process to obtain a licenses to possess a handgun in one’s home, contending that this violates the Second Amendment.

SAF and CCRKBA are joined by the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association, International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors, Professors of second Amendment Law, Jews for the Preservation of Firearms ownership, Millennial Policy Center and Independence Institute. Their joint amicus brief opposes a motion for summary judgment by the defendants, and supports the plaintiffs’ cross motion for summary judgment.

The case was brought by Maryland Shall Issue, Inc.

“We’ve joined in this brief because Maryland’s licensing process is expensive and lengthy, and a right delayed is a right denied,” said SAF founder and CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “No citizen should have to jump through so many hoops simply to have a gun in their own home. There were no such requirements or regulations in Maryland at the time the Constitution was ratified, and the current regulatory scheme seems more intended to discourage responsible firearms ownership than guarantee that gun owners safely handle their firearms.

“The training requirement in Maryland imposes a burden on a citizen’s ability to exercise his or her Second Amendment rights,” he continued. “But evidently in Maryland, as in some other states, the government has arbitrarily decided to treat the Second Amendment right as a regulated privilege, and that simply cannot be allowed to stand.”

The 46-page amicus brief looks at the history of gun rights since colonial days. The brief was prepared by Maryland attorney Gregory M. Kline, with support from Joseph G.S. Greenlee at the Millennial Policy Center and David B. Kopel with the Independence Institute, both located in Denver.

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, Self Defense

NSSF Urges Immediate Kavanaugh Vote Following FBI Investigation

NEWTOWN, Conn. — The National Shooting Sports Foundation® (NSSF®) reconfirms its support for Judge Brett Kavanaugh and urges the United States Senate to act quickly to confirm Judge Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

Judge Brett Kavanaugh is among the most highly-qualified nominees ever to be considered for the United States Supreme Court. Upon completion of the FBI investigation and determination by that agency that there is no evidence that would disqualify him from a career of service, the National Shooting Sports Foundation calls for the United States Senate to act quickly and to vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh to the nation’s highest court.

In July, NSSF backed President Trump’s nomination of Judge Kavanaugh. Since that time, Larry Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel, has explained Judge Kavanaugh’s history on firearm-related issues and the impact his seat would have in potential upcoming firearm-related cases that could reach the Supreme Court. Read more

Gun Control

SAF, Defense Distributed Add Defendants in Amended Lawsuit

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation and Defense Distributed have amended their lawsuit to include four more state and local officials, accusing them of “unconstitutional prior restraint” by attempting to prevent online sharing of 3-D firearms printing technology despite a Justice Department settlement of a lawsuit earlier this summer.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in Austin, now names New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Pennsylvania Gov. Thomas Wolf, Delaware Attorney General Matthew Denn, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, along with original defendants, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal and L.A. City Attorney Michael Feuer. A settlement between Defense Distributed and the U.S. Justice Department ending a lengthy legal action that would have allowed the Texas-based firm to post its 3-D printing information online, as of Aug. 1.

But the defendants, according to the amended complaint, “are so eager to abridge the Second Amendment’s right to keep and bear Arms that they are willing abridge the First Amendment as a means of doing so.” Read more

Firearms, Gun Control

Federal Court Enjoins Part of California Penal Code in SAF Case

BELLEVUE, WA – A federal district court has ruled that a section of the California Penal Code is unconstitutional and has issued an injunction against enforcement of a prohibition on the display of handguns or handgun placards that may be seen from the outside of a store in a case supported by the Second Amendment Foundation and two California gun rights groups.

The case involved Tracy Rifle and Pistol (TRAP), Ten Percent Firearms, Sacramento Black Rifle, Inc., and PRK Arms. SAF was joined in supporting the case by the Calguns Foundation and California Association of Federal Firearms Licensees. The lawsuit was filed some three years ago against then-Attorney General Kamala Harris and the chief of the state Department of Justice Bureau of Firearms. Harris has since been elected to the U.S. Senate.

The lawsuit asserted that Section 26820 of the California Penal Code violated the First Amendment rights of the gun shop operators because it stated, “No handgun or imitation handgun, or placard advertising the sale or other transfer thereof, shall be displayed in any part of the premises where it can readily be seen from the outside.” Read more

Gun Control

33rd Annual Gun Rights Policy Conference in Chicago

BELLEVUE, WA – Teen Second Amendment activist Kyle Kashuv, a student survivor of the tragic shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, will be a featured speaker at the 33rd annual Gun Rights Policy Conference, which will be held Sept. 21-23 in Chicago.

The conference will be held at The Hyatt Regency O’Hare, 9300 Bryn Mawr Avenue, Rosemont, IL 60018. It is co-sponsored by the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA). Hundreds of Second Amendment activists and experts are expected to attend. Read more

Firearms, Gun Control, Self Defense

SAF, Defense Distributed Sue New Jersey A.G., Los Angeles City Atty.

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation and Defense Distributed took the necessary action of filing a federal lawsuit on Sunday against the New Jersey Attorney General and Los Angeles City Attorney, accusing them of “unconstitutional prior restraint” by attempting to prevent online sharing of 3-D firearms printing technology despite a Justice Department settlement of a lawsuit several days ago.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in Austin. Both New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal and L.A. City Attorney Michael Feuer sent letters threatening legal actions that the plaintiffs allege violate their First Amendment speech rights, according to court documents. A settlement between Defense Distributed and the U.S. Justice Department ending a lengthy legal action allows the Texas-based firm to post its 3-D printing information online, as of Aug. 1.
“What Grewal and Feuer are attempting is an unconstitutional exercise of prior restraint,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “They are trying to prevent Defense Distributed and its founder, Cody Wilson, from exercising free speech under color of law.”
“We have the right to publish this information,” added Wilson, “and now the New Jersey Attorney General and Los Angeles city attorney can pay for it.”
Wilson and SAF had been engaged in a lawsuit against the government for preventing the online publication of the 3-D technology. With the settlement announcement earlier this month, Wilson was preparing to resume the online availability of the information, but Grewal and Feuer both advised by letter that they would take action. Feuer also tweeted threats of legal action, the complaint notes.

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Gun Control
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