Constitutional Rights Groups File Supreme Court Brief Supporting Second Amendment Challenge to Federal Handgun Sales Ban
A brief supporting Supreme Court review of a Fifth Circuit decision in a Second Amendment challenge to irrational federal gun control rules was filed by civil rights attorney Donald J. Kilmer, reports three constitutional rights advocacy groups who joined the brief.
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WASHINGTON, D.C. (December 21, 2018) — A brief supporting Supreme Court review of a Fifth Circuit decision in a Second Amendment challenge to irrational federal gun control rules was filed by civil rights attorney Donald J. Kilmer, reports three constitutional rights advocacy groups who joined the brief. A copy of the brief can be viewed at calgunsfoundation.org/litigation.
The amici argue that the Supreme Court should take up the case in order to correct a lower court ruling that upheld a federal gun control rule that bans law-abiding people from buying handguns in states other than their state of permanent residence while allowing the purchase of rifles and shotguns in other states.
“Law-abiding citizens of the United States. . . should not be prohibited by 18 U.S.C. § 922(a)(3) and (b)(3) from purchasing a firearm in any of the other states or territories they travel to, travel through, or in any state or territory where they may temporarily reside,” the groups said in the court filing. “Any federal law and/or regulation imposing such a prohibition violates the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution under any theory of interpretation.”
The brief also argues that the Second Amendment’s disparate treatment by lower courts since the Heller and McDonald decisions appears to track the history of the Fourteenth Amendment, one of the post-Civil War Reconstruction amendments that sought to eliminate slavery and ensure that all people had access to fundamental rights, including the right to keep and bear arms.
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“This Court should take this opportunity to complete the resuscitation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s ‘privilege or immunities’ clause initiated by Justice Thomas’ concurrence in McDonald,” the brief said in its conclusion.
The petition for certiorari in Mance, et al. v. Whitaker, et al. (Supreme Court docket no. 18-663) is likely to be considered by the U.S. Supreme Court in February or March 2019. The Court’s docket is available at http://bit.ly/scotus-mance.
Madison Society Foundation (www.madison-society.org) is a 501(c)(3) grassroots nonprofit based in California. It promotes and preserves the purposes of the Constitution of the United States, in particular the right to keep and bear arms. MSF provides the general public and its members with education and training on this important right.
Firearms Policy Coalition (www.firearmspolicy.org) is a 501(c)4 grassroots nonprofit organization. FPC’s mission is to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, especially the fundamental, individual Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.
Firearms Policy Foundation (www.firearmsfoundation.org) is a 501(c)3 grassroots nonprofit organization. FPF’s mission is to defend the Constitution of the United States and the People’s rights, privileges and immunities deeply rooted in this Nation’s history and tradition, especially the inalienable, fundamental, and individual right to keep and bear arms.
The Calguns Foundation (www.calgunsfoundation.org) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that serves its members, supporters, and the public through educational, cultural, and judicial efforts to advance Second Amendment and related civil rights.