Second Amendment Foundation

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SAF Wins In Arkansas

May 13, 2014 by 4 Comments

The Second Amendment Foundation has won another lawsuit challenging restrictions on the Second Amendment rights of permanent legal residents. This time it was a challenge against the state of Arkansas’ restriction of concealed carry permits to US citizens only.

Admittedly, these type of cases are low hanging fruit insomuch as alienage is a suspect class and strict scrutiny must be applied when a fundamental right involving a suspect class is involved. That said, they need to challenged and the Second Amendment Foundation is well-placed to do it.

The release from SAF is below. As I’ve said before, I wish the Second Amendment Foundation would stick to the courts and that the NRA-ILA would stick to legislatures. Those are the arenas in which they each do their best. By doing so, it would best for gun rights and would avoid what I consider foolish gestures like this one on background checks.

SAF WINS PERMANENT INJUNCTION IN CHALLENGE TO ARKANSAS CCW LAW

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation has won a significant victory on behalf of legal resident aliens in Arkansas, with a federal district court there declaring the state’s citizen-only concealed carry licensing law unconstitutional, and granting a permanent injunction against its enforcement on behalf of a man named Martin Pot (pronounced Pote), a citizen of the Netherlands.

U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks, for the Western District of Arkansas, handed down the ruling. He ordered the state to pay SAF $10,000 in attorney’s fees and court costs of $726.41. SAF and Mr. Pot were represented by attorney David Sigale of Glen Ellyn, Illinois.

The lawsuit, filed last November, challenged the Arkansas statute because it “completely prohibits resident legal aliens from the concealed carry of guns, in public, for the purpose of self-defense. Colonel Stan Witt, director of the Arkansas State Police, was named as the defendant in his official capacity.

“This is yet another victory in our effort to expand Second Amendment protections in the United States,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “Mr. Pot is a law-abiding resident of Eureka Springs, and has been so since 1986. He is self-employed and is a productive member of the community, with an American-born wife and family. He came here almost 30 years ago, met and married his wife, and has many solid connections in his community.”

While Arkansas statute allowed Pot to possess a firearm only in his home, on his property or – under certain circumstances – while on a “journey,” he was prohibited from obtaining a concealed carry permit because he is not a citizen.

“This case is not unique,” Gottlieb noted. “SAF has successfully challenged other state laws, in New Mexico, Washington, Nebraska and Massachusetts. Legal resident aliens should not be penalized at the expense of their self-defense rights. This was a good outcome to a case that should help lots of people.

“This is another case where SAF is winning firearms freedom one lawsuit at a time,” he concluded.

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Florida Carry, SAF Sue Broward County And City Of Tallahassee

May 3, 2014 by 2 Comments

Florida Carry is joined in a pair of lawsuits against Broward County and the City of Tallahassee by the Second Amendment Foundation. The suits are to force the municipalities to bring their local ordinances into compliance with Florida state law regarding firearms. Florida has statewide preemption but a number of municipalities over the years have tried to evade it.

From Florida Carry:

Florida Carry today filed two lawsuits for blatant violations of Florida’s law that preempts local gun control.

Joined by the Second Amendment Foundation, the first case filed is against the City of Tallahassee.

In the second case, Florida Carry filed against Broward County.

“Since 2011, Florida Carry has prompted the repeal of anti-gun ordinances and regulations in over 200 Florida jurisdictions, including municipalities, counties, colleges and state agencies,” noted Florida Carry Executive Director Sean Caranna. “Usually the jurisdiction is responsive to our notification that there is a problem and no lawsuit is necessary. It is a rare and unfortunate circumstance when local government leaders decide to willfully break state law, despite the personal penalties. When local officials are willing to knowingly violate the law in order to suppress the rights of law-abiding gun owners, they can expect that we’re going to make them pay for it.”

Broward County has ignored repeated attempts by Florida Carry to gain its compliance with state law and left us with no choice but to file this case. When local officials refuse to stop breaking the law in order to deny the rights of Floridians, Florida Carry will act to demand that people’s rights be protected. Broward County Administrator Bertha Henry is also named as a defendant in the case. Florida Carry is represented by Miami attorneys Michael T. Davis and Benedict P. Kuehne of The Law Offices of Benedict P. Kuehne, P.A. and Florida Carry General Counsel Eric J. Friday with Fletcher & Phillips of Jacksonville.

Florida Carry, Inc. and the Second Amendment Foundation joined forces in the lawsuit against the City of Tallahassee for refusing to repeal ordinances restricting the use of firearms in defiance of Florida’s firearms preemption law.

“We’re happy to partner with Florida Carry on this legal action,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb. “This is not the first time we have had to take a city to court for violating a state preemption law. Why municipal governments still don’t understand the concept of preemption is a mystery to us”

“Clearly,” Gottlieb observed, “Tallahassee has way over-stepped its authority under state preemption. The Florida Legislature has exclusive domain over firearms regulation. When the law was passed, it nullified all existing, and future, city and county firearm ordinances and regulations.

“Mayor Marks and his colleagues on the city commission knew all of this,” he added, “but they rejected an opportunity to bring the city into compliance in February. Their stubbornness really left us no choice but to join Florida Carry in this action.”

Named as defendants in the Tallahassee case are Mayor John Marks, and City Commissioners Nancy Miller, Andrew Gillum, and Gil Ziffer. SAF and Florida Carry are represented by Jacksonville attorneys Lesley McKinney with McKinney, Wilkes & Mee, and Florida Carry General Counsel Eric J. Friday with Fletcher & Phillips.

Florida Carry is a non-profit, non-partisan, grassroots organization dedicated to advancing the fundamental civil right of all Floridians to keep and bear arms for self-defense as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution and the Florida Constitution’s Declaration of Rights.

Florida Carry, Inc. was organized in order to better coordinate activities, effectively lobby the state legislature, and to provide a legal entity capable of filing suit to demand compliance with state and federal law. Florida Carry stands to represent our members, the approximately 8 million gun owners, and countless knife and defensive weapon carriers of Florida.

As an editorial comment, this is the stuff that the Second Amendment Foundation should be doing and not trying to get involved with background check legislation. I’ve made the comment before and I’ll make it again: the NRA-ILA should do legislative stuff which it does so well and the Second Amendment Foundation should do legal stuff which it does so well and neither should get involved in areas in which they are less than excellent.

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Memorial Services For Otis McDonald Set For Friday

April 8, 2014 by

Funeral services for civil rights champion Otis McDonald who passed away last week will be held this coming Friday. The services will be at 11am at the Bethlehem Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Harvey, Illinois with interment to follow at the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood.

The Second Amendment Foundation posted an obituary this afternoon with remembrances of Mr. McDonald from Alan Gottlieb and Alan Gura. They will be having a remembrance of his life at the Gun Rights Policy Conference held in Chicago this coming September.

From SAF:

SERVICES FOR OTIS McDONALD SET FOR FRIDAY;
SAF REMEMBERS GUN RIGHTS HERO

BELLEVUE, WA – Funeral services for gun rights champion Otis McDonald will be held this Friday at the Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church in Harvey, Ill., the Second Amendment Foundation has learned, with interment to follow at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood.

A pre-pass celebration of Mr. McDonald’s life will be held from 10 to 11 a.m., and the service begins at 11 o’clock. Mr. McDonald passed away April 4 following a long illness, leaving behind his wife, Laura and five children. His nephew, the Rev. Dr. Fred Jones, will officiate, and host pastor is the Rev. Dr. J.C. Smith.

“Otis will continue to live in the hearts and minds of freedom-living Americans who will long remember his important contribution to the gun rights movement,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “We were honored to know him, and we are heartbroken at his loss.”

“Otis truly loved people,” attorney Alan Gura, who argued the SAF-funded case of McDonald v. City of Chicago before the Supreme Court. “He was universally kind, patient, and positive, and wanted very much to see his neighbors enjoying their freedom to which they are entitled. We all owe Otis a debt of gratitude that he could fulfill that wish.”

Born in Fort Necessity, La., Mr. McDonald moved north to Chicago after serving in the U.S. Army. He arrived with $7 in his pocket that he had been given by his mother, and for a time he stayed with a friend while searching for and finally landing a job. He worked in several jobs before finding is career as an engineer at the University of Chicago, where he worked as a journeyman engineer. He also worked his way through college, earning a degree in engineering from Kennedy-King College in Chicago. He later served as president of his local trade union.

Mr. McDonald was 80, and in his final years he became the champion of gun rights for which people will remember him. The case that bears his name, filed on his behalf by the Second Amendment Foundation, incorporated the Second Amendment to the states through the 14th Amendment. The victory forced Chicago to get rid of its handgun ban, and paved the way for the courts to force Illinois to adopt a concealed carry statute, which was another SAF case.

The family suggests that remembrances be made to the Second Amendment Foundation and Illinois State Rifle Association.

SAF will hold a remembrance of Otis McDonald’s life and his contribution to the Second Amendment at the Gun Rights Policy Conference, to be held in his home city of Chicago Sept. 26-28.

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Stepping Up To The Plate In California

January 31, 2014 by 12 Comments

As I reported earlier this month, both Ruger and Smith & Wesson have taken a stand against the California Department of Justice Handgun Roster by letting numerous popular models of their handguns drop off the list. In other words, they refuse to make a California-only model that includes a microstamped firing pin.

Now Mike Fifer and James Debney, the CEOs of Ruger and Smith & Wesson respectively, have filed Declarations in support of the plaintiffs challenging the Handgun Roster in the long-running case of Pena v. Lindley. This is a case being brought by the CalGuns Foundation and the Second Amendment Foundation in US District Court for the Eastern District of California.

The Declaration of Ruger CEO Mike Fifer can be found here. In it he says that the microstamping requirement is unworkable and that no firearms manufacturer has been able to implement it.

The Declaration of S&W CEO James Debney says that the technology is unworkable and that “the state law requires the technology to perform at a level it cannot.” Debney goes on to point out that many of their handguns also do not have mag disconnects and loaded chamber indicators.

These Declarations join the amicus curie brief of Glock, Inc. in arguing against the Handgun Roster and in favor of the plaintiffs’ position.

The Second Amendment Foundation welcomed the support from all three firearms manufacturers in a release put out yesterday shown below.

SAF THANKS GUN COMPANIES FOR
SUPPORT IN CA MICROSTAMPING CASE

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation is expressing heartfelt gratitude today to three major firearms companies – Ruger, Smith & Wesson and Glock – for their supporting documents in the on-going case of Pena v. Lindley, a lawsuit challenging the California handgun roster requirements that include microstamping and magazine disconnects.

Earlier this week, Ruger CEO Michael O. Fifer and Smith & Wesson President and CEO James Debney submitted declarations to the court, explaining their respective companies’ positions on the California microstamping requirement. Late last year, attorneys representing Glock, Inc. filed an amicus curiae brief supporting the SAF case.

“SAF will be eternally grateful for the timely support from all three companies, which we believe strongly reinforces our case,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “The statements from Messrs. Debney and Fifer confirm what we have argued all along, that California’s requirements place an undue burden on both consumers and manufacturers.”

In his statement, Fifer bluntly observed, “There is no workable microstamping technology today, and Ruger believes that California’s microstamping regulations make compliance impossible.”

Debney concurs in his statement, noting, “Smith & Wesson does not believe it is possible currently to comply with California’s microstamping regulations. Quite simply, the state law requires the technology to perform at a level that it cannot.”

In its earlier brief, submitted by attorneys Erik S. Jaffe of Washington, D.C. and John C. Eastman of Orange, Calif., Glock maintained that neither its pistols nor any other handgun in common use can comply with California’s microstamping mandate.

“You cannot regulate handguns out of existence or out of the marketplace by mandating technology that doesn’t work,” Gottlieb observed. “Now three major gun companies have weighed in and we’re confident their opinions will carry a lot of weight.”

The impact of the microstamping requirement on handguns available for sale in California can be seen in this infographic from the CalGuns Foundation.  It is not a pretty picture and not a Constitutional one in my opinion.

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Christmas Comes Early For The Second Amendment Foundation

December 20, 2013 by 1 Comment

Thanks to the City of Seattle’s obstructionism, the Second Amendment Foundation is $38,000 richer. SAF had filed a public documents request regarding the city’s gun buyback held in January of this year. While SAF received some documents, hundreds more were “accidentally overlooked” in anti-gun Mayor Mike McGinn’s office.

The Second Amendment Foundation had sued the city in King County Superior Court back in July  for violating Washington’s Public Records Act.

From SAF:

BELLEVUE, WA The Second Amendment Foundation has accepted a $38,000 settlement from the City of Seattle for the city’s failure to release public records about the city’s gun buyback in January.

As part of the agreement, the city has acknowledged that it did not promptly or properly provide all of the documents sought by SAF under the Public Records Act. SAF was represented by Bellevue attorney Miko Tempski.

“It is a shame that this had to drag out so long,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb, “but the important thing is that the city, and outgoing Mayor Mike McGinn’s office has been held accountable for sloppy handling of our request. One would have thought the city had learned something earlier this year when the police department had to pay the Seattle Times $20,000, for also not providing requested documents.

“Maybe the citizens of Seattle can consider this a Christmas gift from the departing mayor,” he remarked. “This would not have been necessary had McGinn’s office done its job.”

SAF had pursued e-mails and other documents related to the January buyback, which was conducted in a parking lot underneath I-5 in downtown Seattle. The operation was something of an embarrassment that even Washington Ceasefire President Ralph Fascitelli had advised against, the recovered e-mails revealed.

Earlier the city had supplied some of the requested documents, but a story in the Seattle P-I.com revealed there were other materials that had not been provided to SAF by Mayor McGinn’s office.

“It seems hard to conceive,” Tempski said, “how you could accidentally overlook hundreds of documents and how that could be unintentional.”

“The settlement,” said Gottlieb, “will help SAF continue its legal work. Hopefully, we will see better performance from a new city administration in January.”

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SAF Files Suit In Arkansas Challenging Ban On Carry By Legal Aliens

November 6, 2013 by 14 Comments

The Second Amendment Foundation has filed another in their series of suits challenging the denial of gun rights to legal aliens. In this case, Martin Pot is a Dutch citizen who has resided in Arkansas since 1986 and would like to obtain a concealed carry permit. Arkansas law currently limits concealed carry permits to US citizens.

Laws barring possession or carry permits by legal aliens are low hanging fruit because courts have consistently ruled against them. In cases in Kentucky, South Dakota, Massachusetts, New Mexico, and Nebraska brought by both the Second Amendment Foundation and the ACLU, courts have held that alienage is a suspect class, that strict scrutiny must be applied in these cases, and that laws banning possession or carry by legal aliens fail to meet that criteria.

The release from the Second Amendment Foundation gives more details on the case below:

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation has filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Arkansas on behalf of a legal resident alien, alleging that his right to keep and bear arms is being violated by a state law that prevents him from obtaining a concealed carry license.

The lawsuit, on behalf of Martin Pot (pronounced Poht), a citizen of the Netherlands, challenges the Arkansas statute because it “completely prohibits resident legal aliens from the concealed carry of guns, in public, for the purpose of self-defense. Named as a defendant in the case is Colonel Stan Witt, director of the Arkansas State Police.

“Mr. Pot is a law-abiding resident of Eureka Springs, and has been so since 1986,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “He is self-employed and is a productive member of the community, with an American-born wife and family. He came here almost 30 years ago, met and married his wife, and has many solid connections in his community.”

SAF and Mr. Pot are represented by attorney David Sigale of Glen Ellyn, Illinois.

“When I first spoke with Mr. Pot over the telephone, I was alarmed at the prospect of his being denied a fundamental constitutional civil right because of the discriminatory citizenship requirement that was added to the law,” said SAF general counsel Miko Tempski. “He previously had a license, but under the revised statute, the state will not renew it.”

Gottlieb noted that Pot is allowed to possess a firearm in Arkansas only in his home, on his property or – under certain circumstances – while on a “journey.” However, state law prohibits him from obtaining a concealed carry permit because he is not a citizen.

“This is not the first time we have taken an action on behalf of a resident alien,” Gottlieb said, “and we are very confident that this will be a successful case. We have faced similar successful challenges in Washington, New Mexico, Massachusetts and Nebraska.”

SAF is seeking a declaration from the court that the citizenship requirement contained in Arkansas law is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment.

The case is entitled Pot et al. v. Witt. I will post a link to the complaint later today.

UPDATE: Here is the link to the complaint in the case.

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SAF Sues New York Over Magazine Capacity Limit

September 28, 2013 by

As the Second Amendment Foundation begins its annual Gun Rights Policy Conference today, one new topic of discussion may well be the suit they filed today on behalf of themselves, Shooters Committee for Political Education (SCOPE), Long Island Firearms, and two individual plaintiffs. The suit challenges that part of the New York SAFE Act which limits the number of rounds that are allowed to be in a lawful magazine to seven rounds unless a person is at a shooting range. With the exception of single stack magazines for the 1911 and a few pocket pistols, most magazines for semi-auto pistols hold more than the seven round limit.

Caron et al v. Cuomo et al was filed in US District Court for the Northern District of New York.

The complaint notes that magazines containing ten rounds and more are in common usage for lawful purposes and that firearms containing ten round magazines are “therefore not dangerous and unusual weapons” per the Heller decision. The complaint goes on to note that individual self defense is “‘the central component’ of the Second Amendment right” as noted in the McDonald decision which was quoting Heller. The suit seeks a declaratory judgment that the seven round limitation violates the Second Amendment and preliminary and permanent injunctions against enforcement of that part of the NY SAFE Act that limits the number of rounds to seven.

The lead attorney in the lawsuit is David Jensen who has brought a number of lawsuits on behalf of the Second Amendment Foundation.

The complaint can be found here.

The Second Amendment Foundation released this on the case this evening:

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation filed suit today in federal court seeking to enjoin the State of New York from enforcing provisions of the so-called “SAFE Act” that limit the use of gun magazines containing more than seven cartridges.

SAF is joined in the lawsuit by the Shooters Committee for Political Education (SCOPE) and Long Island Firearms LLC. They are represented by New York attorneys David Jensen and Robert P. Firriolo.

Named as defendants in the lawsuit are New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Joseph D’Amico, superintendent of the Division of State Police.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, asserts that the seven-round loading restriction violates the Second Amendment because it “substantially interferes with the right of law abiding citizens to defend themselves and is not sufficiently related to any compelling or otherwise adequate government interest.”

“The cartridge limit is arbitrary and serves no useful purpose other than to frustrate, and perhaps entrap, law abiding citizens who own firearms with standard capacity magazines that were designed to hold more than seven rounds,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “Several top law enforcement officials have already publicly stated they will not enforce provisions of this law, yet Gov. Cuomo and Supt. D’Amico are pushing ahead.

“The law is contradictory, in that it is legal in New York to possess magazines that hold up to ten cartridges,” he added. “But the SAFE Act limits people to seven rounds, with some narrow exceptions. This amounts to virtual entrapment for anyone who loads more than seven rounds in a magazine for self-defense purposes.

“Magazines that hold ten or more rounds are in common use all over the country,” Gottlieb concluded. “This arbitrary limit essentially penalizes law abiding citizens for exercising their right of self-defense, and that cannot be allowed to stand.”

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A Coalition Serves Freedom Of Information Request On Bloomberg

June 27, 2013 by 3 Comments

A coalition consisting of the Second Amendment Foundation, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, and Tom Gresham of Gun Talk have served a Freedom of Information Law request on the City of New York to provide all records concerning Mayor Bloomberg’s Illegal Mayors and the use of city funds to support the group. It is an effort to smoke out just how much the citizens of the City of New York are paying for Bloomberg’s pet project.

From the SAF release:

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation today has filed a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request with the City of New York for all records relating to Michael Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns, after newspaper allegations that city resources have been used for MAIG’s gun control efforts.

SAF is being joined in the request by the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, and Tom Gresham, host of the nationally-syndicated “Gun Talk.”

“It was bad enough to learn via CBS News that the MAIG website was being hosted on a city-owned server, and administered by city employees,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb, “but it also appears that a special counselor in the mayor’s office was sent to lobby in Nevada on behalf of MAIG’s gun control agenda.”

The New York Post and Politico both published reports that Mayor Bloomberg sent Christopher Kocher to Nevada, and that in an apparent attempt to conceal who he worked for, Kocher “scrubbed his City Hall e-mail address from the state of Nevada lobbying-registration Web site early this month.”

“The public has a right to know what’s been going on between Bloomberg, the city and MAIG,” Gottlieb explained. “Gun control is Bloomberg’s pet peeve, and he’s been pushing an anti-gun agenda since sending so-called private investigators on a sting operation to gun shops all over the country, which got him in trouble with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.”

“There certainly appears to be a serious problem in Bloomberg’s administration,” Gresham added. “Evidently, the mayor and his staff have a gross misunderstanding of how the taxpayers’ money should be spent, and that should not include sending New York employees around the country to lobby for Bloomberg’s pet projects.”

The request was filed by SAF Special Projects Director Philip Watson, for the following information:

1. All electronic records related to Mayors Against Illegal Guns and the website MayorsAgainstIllegalGuns.org, including, but not limited to:


  • a. All electronic files saved on city servers

  • b. All Emails to or from users at the domain MayorsAgainstIllegalGuns.org

  • c. All current and former employees, officials, outside contractors, and volunteers with access to the website MayorsAgainstIllegalGuns.org

  • d. All current and former Email users and usernames that have had access to send or receive Email from @MayorsAgainstIllegalGuns.org


2. Any and all records related to Mayors Against Illegal Guns electronic files, including, but not limited to:


  • a. Emails

  • b. Any written documents

  • c. Any records describing processes for cooperation with this group

  • d. Any records describing how received communications with this group are processed

  • e. All employee pay or overtime related to cooperation or time spent with this group

  • f. Official names, titles, and contact information of all employees, officials, outside contractors, and volunteers involved with domain hosting, creation, maintenance, and communication for MayorsAgainstIllegalGuns.org

  • g. All costs incurred by the City of New York for creation, maintenance, domain hosting, and communication for MayorsAgainstIllegalGuns.org


3. Any and all records of communication since January 1, 2002 between any city official, employee, or volunteer and any gun control advocacy organization, including, but not limited to:


  • a. Mayors Against Illegal Guns

  • b. Demand A Plan

  • c. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

  • d. Center for Gun Policy and Research

  • e. Ceasefire

  • f. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence

  • g. Coalition to Stop Gun Violence

  • h. Joyce Foundation

  • i. Violence Policy Center

  • j. Legal Community Against Violence

  • k. Million Mom March

“The man is obsessed,” Gottlieb continued, “and if he’s spent so much as a dime of public money on what amounts to a private crusade, Mayor Bloomberg needs to be held accountable for that.”

Gottlieb has called on New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to launch a full-scale investigation into the mayor’s potential misuse of public resources for his own private war on gun owners. He renewed that call today.

“If Eric Schneiderman won’t investigate Bloomberg for possible misuse of public funds,” Gottlieb said, “we will. The mayor has been acting increasingly like a self-appointed monarch, but this still the United States, not Bloomberg’s personal fiefdom.”

Given that other states and cities have strong freedom of information laws and given that there are a number of cities with a mayor belonging to MAIG, I think this provides a nice template for a grass roots effort to smoke out the use of public funds to promote gun control efforts. These politicians are like cockroaches and hate to see the light of day shone on their activities.

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CalGuns And SAF Challenge Microstamping Requirement

June 13, 2013 by 1 Comment

The CalGuns Foundation and the Second Amendment Foundation have filed a Second Amended Complaint in their case challenging Califorinia’s Handgun Roster. The amended complaint in Pena et al v. Cid now also challenges the handgun microstamping requirement.

From the CGF release:

CGF Challenges CA Handgun Microstamping Requirement in Federal Civil Rights Lawsuit

SAN CARLOS, CA – The Calguns Foundation announced today that attorneys for it and co-plaintiff Second Amendment Foundation have filed an amended complaint in the federal civil rights case Peña v. Cid that includes a challenge to California’s handgun microstamping regulations.

The plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment will be argued by the court’s deadline in November.

The lawsuit was originally filed in 2009 as a challenge to California’s handgun “Roster” regulations that arbitrarily bans handguns based on a list of “acceptable” handgun models approved by the state. The new filing addresses microstamping, which makes it even harder for Californians to legally purchase a handgun for self defense.

Gene Hoffman, chairman of The Calguns Foundation, said, “California’s attempt to limit the availability of handguns to her citizens is so broad that it makes it impossible to purchase the revolver that the U.S. Supreme Court has specifically ruled had to be registered to Dick Heller, whose case struck down the District of Columbia’s handgun ban and affirmed that the Second Amendment protects an individual civil right.”

“The state cannot dictate that some common arms can’t be bought just as they can’t dictate which versions of religious texts are acceptable,” Hoffman added. “Now that the state requires microstamping, it’s unlikely any new make or model of pistol will be added – making it even clearer that this is an incremental ban on firearms.”

“When the case was originally filed,” SAF Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb recalled, “the state’s microstamping requirement was not active and was not part of the lawsuit. However, because of substantial delays involving the Ninth Circuit’s protracted Nordyke litigation, microstamping is now a significant issue. We’ve had to amend our complaint to address this new effort by California legislators to limit the types of handguns one can legally purchase.”

The amended complaint can be viewed at http://ia700204.us.archive.org/23/items/gov.uscourts.caed.191444/gov.uscourts.caed.191444.53.0.pdf

The May 17, 2013, California Department of Justice Information Bulletin on handgun microstamping regulation enforcement can be viewed at http://oag.ca.gov/sites/all/files/agweb/pdfs/firearms/infobuls/2013-BOF-03.pdf.

More information about the Peña v. Cid lawsuit can be viewed at http://wiki.calgunsfoundation.org/Pena_v_Cid.

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SAF Congratulates NRA On Record Attendance At Annual Meeting

May 8, 2013 by

In a nice gesture, Alan Gottlieb of the Second Amendment Foundation issued a release yesterday congratulating the National Rifle Association on their record turnout in Houston for the Annual Meeting. While I saw Alan at the SAF booth in Houston, I didn’t get a chance to stop and talk.

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation today congratulated the National Rifle Association for its record-breaking turnout over the weekend at the 142nd annual meetings in Houston, Tex.

“With a turnout of more than 86,000 members and guests, many of whom became new members, the NRA can be justifiably proud,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb, himself an NRA Life member. “It sends a strong signal to the gun prohibition lobby that America’s firearms owners are more committed than ever to protect their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.”

Gottlieb also offered sincere congratulations to Jim Porter, the newly-elected NRA president, succeeding Gottlieb’s longtime friend David Keene.

“There is no doubt that Jim Porter is devoted to protecting the Second Amendment,” Gottlieb stated. “We offer him our best wishes and hopes for a very successful presidency.”

SAF exhibited at the event and staff was in attendance at the members’ meeting, and Gottlieb noted that Houston made all NRA members feel very welcome.

“Without doubt,” he said, “this was a truly well-organized gathering, and considering the turnout, NRA staff clearly did a monumental job.

“We’re looking forward to late September,” he concluded, “when SAF and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms will be back in Houston for the 27th annual Gun Rights Policy Conference. After this weekend’s remarkable experience, it’s certain that Texans are not only ready to stand and fight to protect their firearms rights, but they will, as always, fight to win.”