Second Supreme Court Decision Kicks Off Next Round of Lawsuits

When Alan Gottlieb of the Second Amendment Foundation tells me something is a “call to action” in the future, I’m going to go ahead and get on my feet. He’s marching, and everyone with him had better be ready to move.

On Monday, the SAF filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, seeking a permanent injunction against North Carolina’s governor, local officials and local governments from declaring states of emergency under which private citizens would be prohibited from exercising their right to bear arms.

Grass Roots North Carolina, the state’s primary gun rights organization, and three private citizens are included in the suit. The defendants in the lawsuit read like the organizational tables of North Carolina government: North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue; Reuben Young, secretary of the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety; Stokes County and the City of King.

The basis of the lawsuit? You guessed it. The unconstitutionality of any law that rescinds the right to firearms during a state of emergency. The suit also alleges that a North Carolina law that allows government officials to prohibit the purchase, sale and possession of firearms and ammunition are also unconstitutional because they forbid the exercise of Second Amendment rights as affirmed by Monday’s Supreme Court ruling in McDonald v. City of Chicago.

As a sidebar, Monday’s decision by the Supreme Court did not GRANT a right- it affirmed the existing right. “Rights” are not granted by anyone – neither, the Supreme Court affirmed, may governments- federal, state nor local, rescind a “right”.

“Through this lawsuit in North Carolina,” says Gottlieb,” we intend to show that state emergency powers statutes that allow government officials to suspend fundamental civil rights, including the right to bear arms, are unconstitutional and therefore should be nullified. Citizens do not surrender their civil rights just because of a natural or man-made disaster.”

Once again, the highest-profile legal point man on the case will be Alan Gura, the same attorney who has now successfully argued both landmark Second Amendment cases before the high court. Local counsel are Andrew Tripp and Kearns Davis with the firm of Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard, LLC in Raleigh.

This lawsuit is likely the first filed following the landmark decision that overturned Chicago’s decades-old gun ban, but it is definitely the last. Yesterday, I was told by involved parties that a series of lawsuits challenging – among others- California’s myriad gun regulations are on the way. Similarly, other areas can expect gun rights advocates on the local and national level, to move forward with their own challenges.

The affirmation of the Second Amendment’s applicability to the states establishes the basis by which anti-gun regulations may be challenged, regardless of the size of the government unit. With the restriction still in place for sensitive locations – government buildings, schools and such – very few defenses remain in place for blanket regulations.

— Jim Shepherd
www.shootingwire.com