NRA Appeals Seventh Circuit Ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court : Black Bear Blog
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NRA Appeals Seventh Circuit Ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court

June 5, 2009


Fairfax, Va. – Today, the National Rifle Association filed a petition for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of NRA v. Chicago. The NRA strongly disagrees with yesterday’s decision issued by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, holding that the Second Amendment does not apply to state and local governments.

“The Seventh Circuit got it wrong. As the Supreme Court said in last year’s landmark Heller decision, the Second Amendment is an individual right that ‘belongs to all Americans’. Therefore, we are taking our case to the highest court in the land,” said Chris W. Cox, NRA chief lobbyist. “The Seventh Circuit claimed it was bound by precedent from previous decisions. However, it should have followed the lead of the recent Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Nordyke v. Alameda County, which found that those cases don’t prevent the Second Amendment from applying to the states through the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.”

This Seventh Circuit opinion upholds current bans on the possession of handguns in Chicago and Oak Park, Illinois.

“It is wrong that the residents of Chicago and Oak Park continue to have their Second Amendment rights denied,” Cox concluded. “It’s time for the fundamental right of self-defense to be respected by every jurisdiction throughout our country.”

-NRA-

Established in 1871, the National Rifle Association is America’s oldest civil rights and sportsmen’s group. Four million members strong, NRA continues its mission to uphold Second Amendment rights and to advocate enforcement of existing laws against violent offenders to reduce crime. The Association remains the nation’s leader in firearm education and training for law-abiding gun owners, law enforcement and the military.

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Comments

4 Responses to “NRA Appeals Seventh Circuit Ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court”

  1. George on June 6th, 2009 9:20 pm

    Sotomayor Guns For The 2nd Amendment

    Posted 06/04/2009 07:06 PM ET

    Gun Control: In a case headed for the Supreme Court, a three-judge panel rules Chicago’s gun ban constitutional since the 2nd Amendment doesn’t apply to states and cities. High court nominee Sonia Sotomayor concurs.

    Those Pennsylvania townsfolk bitterly clinging to their guns may have been premature in celebrating the decision in D.C. v. Heller that the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does indeed guarantee an individual right to keep and bear arms.

    In Heller, the Supreme Court overturned the District of Columbia’s draconian, 32-year-old gun ban. It barred most of the district’s residents from owning handguns and required that all legal firearms be kept unloaded or disassembled under trigger lock. If predators broke into your house, some assembly would be required.

    When the district rejected his application to keep a firearm in his home to protect his family, Dick Anthony Heller, an armed security guard, did not think it was a reasonable restriction on his 2nd Amendment right to keep and bear arms. So he sued.

    In a 5-4 decision written by Justice Antonin Scalia, the court ruled that the 2nd Amendment indeed protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia and to use that firearm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.

    An individual right to bear arms is supported by “the historical narrative” both before and after the 2nd Amendment was adopted, Justice Scalia wrote.

    Not so fast. On Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected subsequent suits brought by the National Rifle Association against the city of Chicago and its suburb of Oak Park, both of which believe the Constitution prevents citizens from defending themselves.

    The Circuit Court decision was written by Judge Frank Easterbrook and joined by Judges Richard Posner and William Bauer. Easterbrook’s reasoning is fascinating. According to him, the Revolution was fought and independence won so that the Founding Fathers could write a Constitution with a Bill of Rights that applied only to the District of Columbia.

    “Heller dealt with a law enacted under the authority of the national government,” Easterbrook wrote, “while Chicago and Oak Park are subordinate bodies of a state.” We’re all for federalism, but the U.S. Constitution is the U.S. Constitution.

    Surely he can’t be serious. But he is, and agreeing with him is Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.

    The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals examined in Maloney v. Cuomo a claim by a New York attorney that a New York law prohibiting possession of “nunchucks,” a martial arts weapon, violated his 2nd Amendment rights. Sotomayor and the 2nd Circuit affirmed a lower court’s decision that the 2nd Amendment applies only to federal laws and not to states or municipalities.

  2. Greg Farber on June 6th, 2009 10:46 pm

    Time to quarantine The District of Criminals to their constitutionally allotted playground of ten square miles around the Capitol and we need a Wall built around Illinois..And California..Then they can play nations together while we get on with life..

  3. ar on June 7th, 2009 1:28 am

    Incredible butt-pullin’, wouldn’t you say? And sonia can make it “policy”, wow.
    Judge Judy is smarter than that.

    I guess they think they must “set policy” and delegate what is fair. So many have been taken advantage of, you know.

  4. Greg Farber on June 7th, 2009 8:33 am

    Incredible destruction of God Fearing white people by evil white people believing in Lucifer..Unfortunately the majority if Blacks, and other Indigenous peoples are supporting the evil whites in destruction of the God Fearing whites, who have been at war with the evil whites for centuries..Think about it, white people left Europe to get away from those tyrants, eventually those tyrants followed and after a lot of struggles took this place over again..And this is what their doing to our white middle class of freedom loving pursuit of happiness for all indigenous whites..Believing in a Creator, NOT the enemies Destructive Lucifer..

    Muslim Demographics – And who created this religion ? 1900 years ago the Papacy did as a strategy to attain Mount Moriah..for their man of perdition..Their winning this battle at the moment..But they have already lost the war.. ISIS HORUS SET….IHS…

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-3X5hIFXYU

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