ThinkingAfield.org

BELLEVUE, Wash. —— The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and its partners have filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit supporting plaintiffs-appellants in Vt. Fed. of Sportsmen’s Clubs, Inc. v. Birmingham, a case challenging Vermont’s 72-hour waiting period for firearm purchases.

SAF is joined in the amicus by the California Rifle & Pistol Association, Second Amendment Law Center, Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus and National Rifle Association.

“The district court’s ruling defies Bruen and Rahimi by misapplying the Second Amendment’s historical test and creating a false ‘fork’ in the analysis for so-called ‘ancillary’ rights, and by relying on unserious analogues like laws disarming intoxicated persons,” said SAF Director of Legal Research and Education Kostas Moros. “History shows no tradition of waiting periods, even as mass production made guns widely available in the 19th century. We urge the Second Circuit to reverse and restore the proper Bruen framework.”

The Tenth Circuit recently struck down a similar waiting period in Ortega v. Grisham, and several other cases challenging waiting periods are pending nationwide. The brief also relies on primary sources in the form of historical newspaper advertisements offering firearms for sale as far back as 1745. Read more

Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) announced the filing of a motion for summary judgment in Jensen v. ATF, an FPC-backed federal case challenging key provisions of the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA). The motion—filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas—asks the court to strike down and permanently enjoin enforcement of the challenged provisions of the NFA. The full brief is available at firearmspolicy.org/jensen.

The filing argues that the NFA exceeds Congress’s enumerated powers and can no longer be justified under the Constitution. Because Congress eliminated the NFA’s making and transfer taxes for most regulated firearms in 2025, the Act’s remaining registration and recordkeeping mandates lack any valid constitutional foundation. The challengers also argue that the NFA’s regulatory scheme is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment.

Said FPC President Brandon Combs, “For nearly a century, the federal government has used the NFA to turn peaceable Americans into criminals. It was never about safety—it was always about control. When Congress erased the tax, it erased the last illusion of legitimacy holding this law together. What’s left is an unlawful exercise of government power aimed squarely at the very people the Constitution was written to protect.”

Combs continued, “The right to keep and bear arms isn’t a privilege that the government can tax, track, or ration—it’s a birthright. The NFA’s collapse isn’t just overdue—it’s inevitable. And when it falls, it will remind Washington that freedom isn’t granted by permission slip or registration form, it’s guaranteed by the Constitution.” Read more

Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) announced the filing of its final brief in support of Supreme Court review in Viramontes v. Cook County, Illinois, asking the Supreme Court of the United States to finally decide the constitutionality of so-called “assault weapon” bans.

The filing argues that the lower court’s decision upholding Cook County’s ban on commonly owned semiautomatic rifles such as the AR-15 is “based on an interpretation of the Second Amendment that flagrantly distorts this Court’s precedent and makes a mockery of the Amendment’s text, history, and purposes.” That, they say, is irreconcilable with the Supreme Court’s landmark Heller and Bruen decisions.

The brief explains that multiple federal courts have now split on how to apply Bruen’s text-informed-by-history framework, including whether “in common use” is a textual or historical inquiry and which side bears the burden of proof. It warns that “lower courts are in conflict” and cites Justice Thomas’s and Justice Kavanaugh’s recent calls for the Court to “address the AR-15 issue.” Read more