All law-abiding citizens of this country are considered adults at the age of 18 for nearly all purposes. They can vote, enter into contracts, start businesses, get married and join the military. But the state prohibits them from exercising the fundamental right to bear arms, that is, to carry a handgun outside the home or in an automobile, even though the state allows other adults to obtain a license to carry firearms in public.

…

We’re asking the court to remedy this situation by issuing an injunction against further enforcement of the ban on our individual plaintiffs and other young adults facing the same situation. Citizens in this age group enjoy nearly all of the rights guaranteed by the Constitution except when it comes to the Second Amendment. This cannot be allowed to stand.

Alan M. Gottlieb
May 27, 2021
SAF FILES FEDERAL CHALLENGE TO ILL. CARRY BAN FOR YOUNG ADULTS
[Incrementalism at work.

It’s a good venue as well. Judges in the Seventh Circuit have been good to us.—Joe]

People are constantly going on and on about how we have too many guns, but then they say they don’t want to take our guns. They fail to address guns in criminal hands but instead focus on those firearms being sold lawfully.

With this story, desperate to try and link increased gun sales to school violence, it’s almost sad. You’d think that people would understand that correlation doesn’t equal causation, yet they don’t. Then again, they still think gun control works.

Tom Knighton
May 9, 2021
Media Continues Meltdown Over Gun Sale Surge
[For certain definitions of “works” gun control does work:

• If the objective is to make a population unable to resist a tyrannical government then yes, it works fairly well. See, for example, the Weapons Control Act of 1938 and the formation of the USSR.
• If the objective is to enable criminals in their exploitation of innocent people, then yes. it works fairly well.

But I don’t think that is what Knighton was referring to.—Joe]

This is a humongous loss for anti-gun Democrat State Attorneys General. They consistently attack Second Amendment rights any way they can.

This legal debacle was led by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson who became famous for suing the Trump administration in a series of partisan legal actions that cost taxpayers millions of dollars.

SAF and Defense Distributed look forward to sharing technical firearms information with millions of interested people on the Internet.

Alan M. Gottlieb
April 29, 2021
NINTH CIRCUIT VACATES INJUNCTION IN 3-D PRINTING CASE, TELLS LOWER COURT TO DISMISS
[This is incrementalism at work for us.

The proposed new regulations on “ghost guns” (page 21) will not nullify this ruling:

…nothing in this rule would restrict persons not otherwise prohibited from possessing firearms from making their own firearms at home without markings solely for personal use (not for sale or distribution) in accordance with Federal, State, and local law.

As long as parts are available for AR-15 repairs, AR-15 lower receivers can be made to subvert bans on common sporting rifles. Thank SAF.—Joe]

A new ABC News/Washington Post poll released Tuesday from among more than 1,000 U.S. adults found that Americans overall are less supportive of new gun control legislations than they were just three years ago. People between the ages of 18-29 saw the sharpest decline in backing for new weapons laws, with fewer than half now saying new legislation is needed to reduce the risk of future mass shootings or to block “red flag” buyers.

In April 2018, the last time the ABC/Washington Post survey was conducted on this issue, 65 percent of these young Americans said they support gun control laws. That percentage is now 45.

Benjamin Fearnow
April 28, 2021
Americans Under 30 Have Rapidly Turned Against Gun Control Laws, Poll Finds
[It frequently takes a while but reality does have a way of making itself known.

And what’s with this name, “Fearnow”? Apparently it’s real.—Joe]

A major point of disagreement among Second Amendment supporters was how to approach the problem. One group claimed anything but full and complete recognition of Second Amendment rights was futile and counter-productive. The argument was: any lesser legislation, moving incrementally toward full Second Amendment rights, would only legitimize infringements on those rights. They were/are the “All or Nothing” group. Some called/call themselves “principled”.

The other group of Second Amendment supporters argued Second Amendment rights could be restored bit by bit. Pass legislation first, for a permit system. Keep reforming and improving the permit system. Reduce requirements, reduce fees, reduce “gun free zones”.  Keep on incrementally improving the law, until Second Amendment rights were fully restored. They were/are the “Incrementalists”.  In the middle 1990’s it was not clear if either approach would be effective. 

Twenty years later, it was clear. Incrementalism worked.

Dean Weingarten
May 3, 2021
Restoring Second Amendment Rights: Incrementalism vs All or Nothing
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

Even though the Supreme Court left open the option of regulation to combat the dangers of gun violence in Heller, it is this Court’s opinion that the FOID Card Act goes too far. The Act makes criminals out of law-abiding citizens who are attempting to protect their lives within their homes.

After analyzing all the evidence in this matter, this Court finds that FOID Card Act is NOT substantially related to an important government interest as applied to the Defendant in this case. In addition, the Court finds that any fee associated with the exercising the core fundamental Constitutional right of armed self-defense with the confines of one’s home violates the Second Amendment.

T. Scott Webb
White County Resident Circuit Judge
April 26, 2021
People of the State of Illinois v. Vivian Claudine Brown
[This case started on March 18, 2017. It has taken over four years for this case to get this far. It went to the state Supreme Court once already and may will go back up again. Why aren’t these delays considered unconstitutional?

See also Illinois Circuit Judge T. Scott Webb ruled against Illinois’ Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) card requirement on Tuesday and ILL. JUDGE RULES FOID CARD REQUIREMENT UNCONSTITUTIONAL FOR GUNS IN HOME.—Joe]

The Supreme Court today granted certiorari in the case NYS Rifle and Pistol Association V. Superintendent of NYS Police (No. 20-843)

The case will be heard in the fall term of the court later this year with a ruling expected in the spring of 2022. The Independent Firearm Owners Association will file an Amicus brief in the proceedings.

The issues raised are straightforward. Does an individual right of self protection with a handgun extend beyond the property of the owner? “Can a government which cannot protect its citizens deny them the means to protect themselves?” asked Peter Sullivan, former NYS Assemblyman from Westchester, NY and Board Member of the IFOA.

Firearm owners have been asking this question for a generation in NYS ever since the police have denied carry licenses to ordinary law abiding citizens for no reason, while granting them to wealthy, powerful, and politically connected “big shots”. (Mayor Lindsay, Donald Trump, Eleanor Roosevelt, & Howard Stern)

The issue raised in this case is not about training or other restrictions before issuing licenses, but of fairness and equal rights. “Either the government trusts its citizens or it does not, they can’t have it both ways”, concluded Richard Feldman, President of the IFOA.

Independent Firearms Owners Association
April 26, 2021
Media release via email.
[See also:

• SCOTUS Just Agreed To Hear a Major New Second Amendment Case
• SAF HAILS HIGH COURT ACCEPTANCE OF NEW YORK SECOND AMENDMENT CASE
• Supreme Court Grants Cert in Second Amendment Concealed Carry Case
• Supreme Court Grants Cert Petition in FPC-Supported Case Challenging New York Carry Restrictions
• Court to take up major gun-rights case

This is a really big deal in more than one way.

The first is that there is a good chance this will overturn all the “may issue” concealed carry laws. It even has the potential (a big stretch with the SCOTUS rewording of the question being asked) of overturn all licensing requirement for carrying a firearm.

The second important point I want to make is that court review of concealed carry licensing should have taken place and been settled law shortly after the Sullivan Act was passed in 1911. That it is happening 110 years later tell us something is very broken with our legal system.—Joe]

You and I both know the cops are all in on guns and the NRA. I see a lot of them as the problem.

bgugin
April 20, 2021
Comment to Can Utah ignore federal laws that restrict gun rights? Lawmakers are asking.
[With an attitude like this you have to conclude they are either delusional in their view of reality and/or are knowingly enabling evil.—Joe]