SAF HAILS 9TH CIRCUIT DENIAL OF EN BANC HEARING IN JUNIOR SPORTS CASE – Second Amendment Foundation

The Second Amendment Foundation is cheering the decision by a 9^th Circuit Court panel to deny the State of California an en banc hearing in a case known as Junior Sports Magazines, Inc. v. Bonta, in which the state tried to prohibit firearm advertising which it claims, “reasonably appears to be attractive to minors.”

SAF is joined in the case by Junior Sports Magazines, the California Youth Shooting Sports Association, Redlands California Youth Clay Shooting Sports, California Rifle & Pistol Association, CRPA Foundation, Gun Owners of California and Raymond Brown, a private citizen.

“It seems like forever since the 9^th Circuit has refused to hear a gun case en banc,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “Hopefully, this is a new trend.”

SAF attorney Donald Kilmer noted, “This means that our win before the three-judge panel will become the case law on this issue in the Ninth Circuit. It means the trial court’s denial of a preliminary injunction remains reversed and that court will be required to enter a preliminary injunction, preventing enforcement of this law while the case proceeds to final judgment.”

SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut said the court’s decision is a victory for the First Amendment as well as the Second.

“The state was determined to regulate the First Amendment as well as the Second,” Kraut stated, “and we prevented California from continuing to enact unconstitutional laws. We’re pleased the 9^th Circuit has decided to leave the panel’s decision undisturbed.”

This is a ground-breaking First Amendment case, which defends the right of Junior Sports Magazine and other periodicals to publish Second Amendment-related material in California.

It is a miracle! The 9th Circuit Court of appeals is allowing a court ruling in favor of gun owners to stand.

NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre is resigning.

For a more toxic views see:

• NRA chief Wayne LaPierre resigns days before civil corruption trial – ABC News
• NRA Chief Wayne LaPierre to Step Down Before Civil Corruption Trial (Walls Street Journal via msn.com)
• NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre steps down amid corruption charges (Politico via msn.com)
• NRA Executive Wayne LaPierre survived years of criticism. Now he’s stepping down. (USA Today via msn.com)

From the Wall Street Journal article:

LaPierre and the NRA have said the group has embarked on a major “course correction” by terminating certain vendors, promoting a whistleblower to its top financial job and eliminating virtually all related-party transactions with board members. Since the New York investigation began, LaPierre has repaid the NRA nearly $1 million for some of the private-jet flights, gifts and other “excess benefits” he received, legal filings show.

It is probably was far short of the compensation he and many others should have given but it is worth something. Perhaps the organization can rebuild itself with a better focus on the important principles.

Via text from Mike B.:

Rats leaving the burning ship?

Via X:

Mike Beard, a leader and pioneer in gun violence prevention, has passed away after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. In 1978, Mike founded the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence, which helped to form [Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions].

His family has my sympathy, but gun owners will express some relief that another enemy has left the scene and will not be returning. Some of his harshest critics, such as Neal Knox, thought well of him as a person. And Beard thought well of Knox too. Give Beard credit for that.

In 1974 he became the founding President of the National Coalition to Ban Handguns and its sister organization Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence. The.National Coalition to Ban Handguns later became the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence when they added “assault weapons” to their list of guns to ban. That is nearly 50 years of advocacy of the elimination of a specific enumerated right. In addition to advocating for the banning private ownership of handguns.they also advocated:

• Opposition to the National Rifle Association’s interpretation of Second Amendment rights.^[9]
• Support for firearm microstamping, a ballistic identification technology intended to allow law enforcement to trace the serial number of a firearm from ejected cartridge cases recovered from crime scenes.^[10]
• Ban the private sale of guns by instituting universal background checks.^[11]
• Ban concealed carry.^[12]
• Opposition to the sale of what it classifies as assault weapons to private citizens.^[13]
• Support for “countermarketing”, a strategy intended to force changes in gun industry’s marketing and distribution practices.^[14]
• Opposition to removing the duty to retreat in self-defense law (i.e., stand your ground laws).^[15]
• Support for stricter mental health screening for firearm purchases.^[16]
• Support for the repeal of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act.^[17]

He, as nearly all anti-gun rights activists, regularly used deception and outright lies to further his agenda.

As I suggested a couple years ago, I would have preferred we could have enjoyed his trial. But outliving your enemy and knowing that he knew as he was dying his long held dreams were crumbling into dust does provide a certain amount of satisfaction.

Things are really jumping in the firearms legal world. These are just a few of the things happening in the last few days:

• Right to Bear Arms: Judge Cites Second Amendment in Overturning California’s Assault Weapons Ban (msn.com)
• Maryland’s handgun licensing law has been struck down by a federal appeals court (msn.com)
• Voter-approved Oregon gun control law violates the state constitution, judge rules (msn.com)

When I think back to when I first got involved in the gun owner rights activism in the mid 1990s… there were seldom more than one or two gun cases per year which made the news. Now it probably averages about one per week.

We live in interesting times.

In related news from yesterday, my company gave all employees some money to donate to charitable causes. I gave all of mine to the FPC. I also donate a lot of money to SAF who also does good work in the courts.

To support my assertion that there was a clear lesson which should have been learned I give you this, also from The Times of Israel on October 9^th:

A failed attempt by terrorists on Saturday to enter Nir Am, a kibbutz situated some 500 yards (457 meters) away from the border with Gaza, ended with the death of two perpetrators, a local defender says.

“The terrorists appear to have tried to penetrate a large chicken farm next to Nir Am, possibly mistaking its fence for the kibbutz’s fence,” says Ami Rabin, 70, the previous security coordinator of Nir Am, who is also the uncle of his successor, Amit Rabin.

The kibbutz’s guard detail, whose members took up forward positions upon hearing gunshots, shot two of the terrorists as they entered the factory, Rabin tells The Times of Israel. Blood trails around the scene indicated a third sustained a serious injury, he adds.

And this from October 10^th:

One tale of bravery involves a handful of men and women who, with only two rifles and a few handguns, prevented a detachment of heavily armed terrorists from setting foot in their community of Ein Habesor.

None of the defenders died in the 20-minute-long gunfight, in which they employed subterfuge to make the terrorists believe they were up against a more formidable fighting force.

…

Another is about Noam Tibon, a reserves general from Tel Aviv who, within an hour of the terrorist incursion, led a hastily assembled intervention team to the home of his son — Amir Tibon of the Haaretz newpaper — in Kibbutz Nahal Oz.

The team killed several terrorists outside several homes, including that of his son, Amir, who was holed up inside with his wife and daughters.

A third account revolves around Inbal Rabin-Lieberman, the 25-year-old security coordinator of Kibbutz Nir Am. She and her uncle Ami led a guard detail so alert that it killed two terrorists as they were trying to enter a nearby chicken farm. This response was so effective that it made the dead invaders’ entire detachment lose the appetite for entering Nir Am.

…

Back in Ein Habesor, local resident Noam Gotliv says, “We’re only hearing the tip of the iceberg of the bravery that Israelis showed over the past two days.” Gotliv used a handgun to fire from close range on terrorists armed with rifles. Another resident armed with nothing but an axe stayed with Gotliv’s wife, Julie, and three children inside their home shelter in case the terrorists breached the gate.

You would think with such a vivid example less than a month previous they would understand why the right to keep and bear arms should not be infringed.

From The Times of Israel:

Coming to a public space near you: Guns. Lots of guns.

Weapons should only be distributed to citizens if common sense precautionary measures are applied, including extensive background checks before issuing a license and monitoring of license holders.

We may have to wait until the state of emergency ends before public debate can take place over these risky new regulations, meanwhile, we can only hope it won’t take a tragedy for the national security ministry to take measures that ensure deadly weapons don’t end up in the wrong hands.

Are these people just mind bogglingly slow learners? Or is there some sort of motivation I cannot fathom?