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The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and its partners have filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to grant certiorari in a case challenging New York’s law that undermines the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA).

The case, National Shooting Sports Foundation, Inc v. Letitia James, Attorney General of New York, challenges the continued filing of abusive public nuisance lawsuits against firearms manufacturers and dealers. SAF is joined in the amicus filing by the National Rifle Association of America (NRA) and the Independence Institute.

“British efforts to suppress arms commerce in the years before the Revolutionary War were correctly understood by the Founders as a deliberate attempt to disarm and enslave the American people,” said SAF Director of Legal Research and Education Kostas Moros. “Congress enacted the PLCAA to stop the modern equivalent – coordinated litigation campaigns designed to bankrupt the firearms industry through meritless lawsuits. New York’s law invites precisely the kind of abusive end-run around federal protections that Congress sought to prevent. We urge the Court to grant review and reaffirm PLCAA’s vital safeguards for lawful commerce and Second Amendment rights.”

The Second Circuit’s erroneous ruling threatens to revive the very litigation campaign that Congress enacted PLCAA to halt, potentially devastating the firearms industry and undermining the constitutional rights it supports.

“This case is essential because it defends the firearms industry against efforts to achieve gun control through the courts rather than through the legislative process,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “SAF is proud to join the NRA and Independence Institute in urging the Supreme Court to protect the industry that enables Americans to exercise their fundamental right to keep and bear arms.” Read more

The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and its partners have filed a lawsuit challenging the ban on firearms possession in federal facilities operated by the National Park Service.

The lawsuit specifically challenges the constitutionality of federal law 18 U.S.C. § 930(a), which bars knowingly possessing a firearm in a federal facility, as applied to federal facilities operated by the National Park Service. The law defines a federal facility in the National Park System as “…government offices, visitor centers, ranger stations, fee collection buildings, and maintenance facilities.” Park officials themselves are also allowed to impose park-specific restrictions on where firearms may be carried.

“More than 300 million people traveled through the National Park System last year, and each of them were unconstitutionally barred from carrying firearms inside specific buildings at those parks,” said SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut. “Campers wishing to carry a firearm for self-defense in these parks, for instance, are made to disarm before stepping foot inside a visitor center or ranger station to obtain a permit to camp. This disenfranchisement forces peaceable citizens to choose between following the registration rules for each park or going unarmed while they gather the proper documentation allowing them to enjoy our National Park System. That’s not a choice any law-abiding American should have to make.”

As noted in the complaint, “The Supreme Court has squarely held that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms, and that all responsible, law-abiding Americans are entitled to exercise that right. In Bruen, the Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms fully extends to general carry of arms in public.” SAF is joined in Zimmerman v. Bondi by the Firearms Policy Coalition and private citizen Gary Zimmerman.

“These so-called ‘sensitive places’ restrictions across the country are nothing more than an attempt by idealogues to circumvent the Supreme Court’s ruling in Bruen,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “Peaceable citizens should not be forced to choose between exercising their right to keep and bear arms and enjoying the full breadth of the National Park System, and we will fight these unconstitutional bans to ensure Americans can enjoy their full Second Amendment rights everywhere they go.” Read more