Posts Tagged ‘Heller’

Over the past four years, our nation’s courts have become a major battleground in the debate about gun violence in our communities. Right now, people who want to carry loaded firearms on public streets are forcing judges across the country to question the scope of the Second Amendment. But where should judges turn for guidance in evaluating these claims? The Supreme Court’s landmark Heller decision in 2008 effectively upended the legal understanding of the Second Amendment that had existed for almost eighty years. When it comes to gun litigation, courts are now having to evaluate how to keep our communities safe with little Second Amendment case law to guide them.

The Law Center is helping to fill that void through amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) briefs in significant Second Amendment cases across the country. Because we are the only organization in the country that tracks Second Amendment litigation, national, state, and local firearms laws, and pending firearms legislation nationwide, we have unique expertise that can help courts understand the critical importance of smart laws to prevent gun violence. Through amicus briefs, we can present that expertise to courts shaping the meaning of the Second Amendment.

Amicus briefs enable us to get involved in precedent-setting cases that have nationwide significance, since numerous challenges to similar gun laws are currently pending before courts across the country. We recently filed an amicus brief in the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Hightower v. Boston, in which we argued that a Massachusetts law requiring a license to carry a concealed weapon in public does not violate the Second Amendment. When the court issued its decision upholding the law on August 30th, it became the first federal appellate court in the nation to issue a decision on a Second Amendment challenge to a concealed carry law. Six other federal appellate courts are currently facing similar challenges.  READ MORE »

WHAT HAPPENED?
Since the Supreme Court’s decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (striking down the District’s decades-old ban on handgun possession and storage requirement), a flood of litigants have attempted to expand the limited right to self-defense in the home provided by the Heller Court.  After the District of Columbia repealed the laws struck down in Heller, the District, with help from LCPGV, enacted a set of firearms laws that are among the strongest in the nation.  The lead Heller plaintiff immediately challenged the laws.
HOW SAFETY WINS
The Circuit Court upheld important firearms and ammunition safety laws.  In October 2011, the D.C. Circuit Court held that D.C.’s assault weapon ban, large capacity ammunition magazine ban, and handgun registration requirement are consistent with the Second Amendment, Heller v. District of Columbia, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 20130. For more information about the nationwide trend rejecting expansion of the basic right to a handgun in the home for self-defense, see LCPGV’s latest Post-Heller Litigation Summary.

The legislature of Oklahoma wasted state resources on a bill creating a frivolous new annual holiday to be known as “Second Amendment Day” commemorating the Supreme Court’s decision that individuals have the right to keep handguns in the home for self-defense.  The Oklahoma governor signed the bill into law on April 14th.