Category: Self Defense

SAF Sues Illinois Agency Over Day Care Operators’ Gun Rights

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation has filed a lawsuit against the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services on behalf of two Prairie State residents, alleging deprivation of civil rights under color of law.

Joining in the lawsuit on behalf of individual plaintiffs Jennifer J. and Darin E. Miller are the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA) and Illinois Carry (IC). They are represented by Glen Ellyn attorney David Sigale. Named as a defendants in the case are Beverly J. Walker, in her official capacity as director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (IDCFS), and state Attorney General Lisa Madigan.
The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois, contends that Mr. and Mrs. Miller have been denied their rights because IDCFS policy “substantially prohibits day care home licensees, and those who would be day care home licensees, from the possession of firearms for the purpose of self-defense, which violates Plaintiffs’ constitutional rights under the Second Amendment.”

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Gun Control, Self Defense

NSSF Praises House Passage of STOP School Violence Act

NEWTOWN, Conn. – The National Shooting Sports Foundation® (NSSF®), the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industries, praised today’s passage of H.R. 4909, the STOP School Violence Act of 2018, introduced by U.S. Rep. John Rutherford (R-Fla.). The legislation passed the U.S. House of Representatives in an overwhelming bipartisan majority. Identically–titled legislation, S. 2495, introduced by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) is being considered in the U.S. Senate.

“The passage of the STOP School Violence Act by the U.S. House of Representatives demonstrates that there are significant steps we can agree upon to make our schools and communities safer,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF senior vice president and general counsel. “This is just one of the key pieces of legislation called for in President Trump’s school safety initiative. We will continue to press our lawmakers to enact into law proposals that bolster school security and respect Constitutional rights including the right of due process and the rights of young adults to purchase firearms for hunting, sports shooting and their own self-defense.” Read more

Gun Control, Self Defense

SAF: Large Increase in Young Adult Members, Donors

BELLEVUE, WA – Since the tragic mass shooting at a Florida high school last month resulted in efforts to restrict firearms ownership by young adults, the Second Amendment Foundation has experienced a 1,200 percent increase in the number of 18- to 20-year-olds joining or supporting the organization, SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb reported today.
“We normally don’t get that many members or donors in that age group,” Gottlieb noted, “since the gun rights movement typically trends toward older Americans. But the 18- to 20-year-olds have never been specifically targeted before, and they are obviously alarmed. This influx of young Americans into the gun rights movement is important, not just to respond to the current gun control threat, but as the movement has gotten older, it is encouraging to see so many young adults getting involved in support of Second Amendment rights.

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Gun Control, Self Defense

Ohio Armed Teachers Program

COLUMBUS, OH – Today President Trump said his administration is considering the idea of arming and training teachers to help secure our schools. However, Ohio has been doing this for 5 years.

FASTER Saves Lives is a nonprofit program funded by private donations. FASTER stands for Faculty / Administrator Safety Training & Emergency Response.

Created by concerned parents, law enforcement, and nationally-recognized safety and medical experts, FASTER is a groundbreaking, nonprofit program that gives educators practical violence response training.

The program offers a carefully-structured curriculum with over 26 hours of hands-on training over a 3-day class that exceeds the requirements of the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy.

The purpose is not to replace police and EMT, but to allow teachers, administrators, and other personnel on-site to stop school violence rapidly and render medical aid immediately.

“When an active killer enters a school, every second counts,” said Dean Rieck, Executive Director of Buckeye Firearms Association. “Being able to stop the violence rapidly and tend to the injured immediately will absolutely save lives.”

To date, more than 1,300 teachers and staff from 225 districts across 12 states have received training, including educators in 76 of Ohio’s 88 counties. Up to 400 additional educators are set to go through training in 2018.

“It’s taken a while for this idea to catch on,” continued Rieck. “At first, many people told us it wouldn’t work. But we pioneered this concept, refined it, and have proven that it works. Now school boards are coming to us asking how they can improve security in their schools.

“Some educators are skeptical. So we invite them to observe the training and see for themselves. Once they see what the FASTER Saves Lives classes are really all about, and when they see the high quality of instruction and how the program has adapted proven ideas from real world active killer events for the school environment, they’re much better equipped to make rational, clear headed decisions about the next steps for their school.”

Demand for the classes from Ohio schools, and overwhelming interest from other states, greatly exceeds the funding available. The program recently received a grant from the State of Ohio for $100,000 per year for 2018 and 2019.

For more information, visit www.FASTERSavesLives.org. Read more

Self Defense

Teachers Trained to Stop Active Killers

COLUMBUS, OH – Five years ago, a 20-year-old murdered his mother, stole her guns, and went to Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut to slaughter 6 staff and 20 young children. It was a horrific event that forever changed the concept of what school security means in the modern world.

Gun control groups called for new gun laws. However, because none of the proposed laws would have stopped this event, and because new laws have never proven effective at stopping determined killers, one nonprofit organization chose to take a different approach.

“I remember an ABC News town hall in Columbus, Ohio,” said Jim Irvine, Chairman of Buckeye Firearms Foundation. “Gun control advocates kept talking about having a so-called ‘national conversation’ about school safety. It was so frustrating because we’d been having a conversation for years and nothing had changed.

“So in the middle of the town hall we said we were done talking. It was time for action. We announced a program to train teachers and other school staff to carry guns in schools so they would be ready to stop active killers quickly. There were literally gasps from the audience.”

The announcement was met with widespread disbelief and criticism, including editorials claiming that no school would ever participate and no teacher could possibly be interested. But when the organization contacted Ohio schools offering to train 24 teachers, more than 1,000 applied.

With support from private donations, that original class grew into what is today called the FASTER Saves Lives program. Created by concerned parents, law enforcement, and nationally-recognized safety and medical experts, FASTER Saves Lives is a groundbreaking, nonprofit program that gives educators practical violence response training, including emergency medical care.

To date, more than 1,300 teachers and staff from 225 districts across 12 states have received training, including educators in 76 of Ohio’s 88 counties. Up to 400 additional educators are set to go through training in 2018. Read more

Self Defense

House Passes Concealed Carry Reciprocity Bill

By a 231-198 vote the United States House of Representatives has passed legislation that would enable holders of concealed carry licenses to legally carry in other states. The measure also contained an amendment designed to address reporting and other issues with the NICS system. The bill was a top priority of Second Amendment groups, including the National Rifle Association.

“This vote marks a watershed moment for Second Amendment rights,” said NRA executive director for legislative action Chris Cox. “The Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act is the culmination of a 30-year movement recognizing the right of all law-abiding Americans to defend themselves, and their loved ones, including when they cross state lines.”

Self Defense

Michigan House Action Imminent on Senate Bills 584-586Michigan

Senate Bills 584 & 585, which would allow any CPL holder to obtain a general exemption to concealed pistol free zones, and Senate Bill 586, which would clarify that public schools, intermediate school districts, community colleges, public libraries, and other public authorities are local units of government, are expected to be taken up by the Michigan House of Representatives sooner rather than later -as early as next week!
While MCRGO, the NRA, and other firearms law reform activists nearly uniformly support these bills, there are several changes we would like to see in the House to Senate Bill 584. The last minute Senate addition of airport property to the list of pistol free zones should be removed. It appears to have been added to prevent future situations where Open Carry activists have carried on airport property, but it misses the mark by applying only to concealed pistols. We would also like to see the Senate’s ban on intentional display and open carry removed from the bill as the language could be used to prosecute CPL holders who are printing or inadvertently showing a firearm.
Please contact your state representative now to let them know you support Senate Bills 584-586 with the changes noted above. You can find him/her HERE. Some key points:
* 98% of mass shootings occur in pistol free zones because they are target rich locations.
* Pistol free zones don’t prevent people with criminal intent from carrying a gun there.
* The are numerous examples of situations where CPL holders have stopped shootings or prevented them altogether. It happens far more often than many people realize because they aren’t reported like unchallenged mass shootings with high body counts.
* No Michigan CPL holder has ever been mistakenly shot by another Michigan CPL holder or law enforcement in the 17 years Michigan has had shall-issue concealed carry. Michigan has over 600,000 CPL holders who carry daily in busy public settings.
* Michigan CPL holders with a general exemption would be the best trained in the USA!
* The legislation does not negatively impact private property rights.
Self Defense

Status of Constitutional Carry in Michigan

After Constitutional Carry legislation rapidly passed the Michigan House of Representatives this spring, putting Michigan well into the lead among neighboring states on this issue, many gun owners assumed it would become law by early fall. Applications for new & renewal concealed pistol licenses dropped significantly this summer resulting in the first downturn in total statewide CPL numbers since 2001. Now many people are asking, “What’s the hold up?”

 
The short answer is Governor Snyder who is reluctant to sign any major gun reform measures into law. While the votes exist in the Michigan Senate to pass a constitutional carry package, Senate leadership would be foolish to pass the bill without first reaching an agreement on language with Snyder as the governor is likely to veto the bill. This would kill the issue for the rest of the 2017-2018 session as the votes don’t exist in the House to override a veto. While it has always been an uphill battle to get constitutional carry signed into law this session, its chances of success are much better if a deal can be reached that doesn’t compromise the fundamentals of the legislation. That may not be until the lame duck session in late 2018. It may require waiting for a new governor.
 
The Wisconsin Senate, which is considering its own constitutional carry bill, is also experiencing opposition from Republican Governor Scott Walker. None of our other neighboring states have yet to consider constitutional carry legislation although Indiana may do so in the coming year.
Self Defense

D.C. Declines to Take Wrenn CCW Case to SCOTUS

Apparently fearing a devastating loss that could crush arbitrary concealed carry laws in a handful of states, the District of Columbia has declined to appeal its loss of a concealed carry case that struck down its “needs based” permit requirement, the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) learned.

The SAF case is Wrenn v. District of Columbia. A three-judge panel on the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia struck down the city’s “good cause” requirement as unconstitutional in July. The court declined a request for an en banc panel review last month.

“We believe the city was under intense pressure to take the hit and not appeal the ruling by the U.S. District Court of Appeals,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “If the District had lost the case before the high court, it would have dealt a fatal blow to similar requirements in California, New Jersey, Maryland and New York, for example, and that prospect had anti-gun politicians in those states quaking in their shoes.”

Gottlieb recalled that the District’s loss in 2008 when the Supreme Court struck down its handgun ban as unconstitutional under the Second Amendment opened a floodgate for legal challenges to state laws. That led to SAF’s 2010 victory in McDonald v. City of Chicago, which not only nullified the Windy City’s handgun ban but more importantly incorporated the Second Amendment to the states via the 14th Amendment. Read more

Gun Control, Self Defense

D.C. Court of Appeals Denies En Banc Hearing on DC Concealed Carry Suit

HEARING ON WRENN, A MAJOR WIN FOR SAF

BELLEVUE, WA — The U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has turned down a request from the city for an en banc hearing on the concealed carry case of Wrenn v. District of Columbia, amounting to a strategic win for the Second Amendment Foundation.

According to the court, not a single judge on the court requested a hearing. Earlier, a three-judge panel had ruled in favor of plaintiffs Brian Wrenn and SAF. The case challenges the District’s carry permit policy that requires citizens to provide a “good reason” to be issued a permit. The Appeals Court struck down that requirement.

“Ten years ago, Washington D.C.’s political leadership tried to extinguish Second Amendment rights before the Supreme Court,” noted attorney Alan Gura, who represents the plaintiffs. “The result was D.C. v. Heller, a tremendous victory for the rights of all Americans. With the court of appeals again confirming the people’s right to bear arms, Washington, D.C.’s politicians must once again ask themselves whether it makes sense to keep resisting our fundamental rights.”

Gura successfully argued both the 2008 District of Columbia v. Heller case and 2010 McDonald v. City of Chicago case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Both cases dealt directly with Second Amendment issues. Heller affirmed that the amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms, and McDonald incorporated the Second Amendment to the states via the 14thAmendment. Read more

Gun Control, Self Defense
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