Victory for the Second Amendment
-- Gun Owners triumphant at the Supreme Court

Gun Owners of America rejoices in the fact that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Otis McDonald and against the city of Chicago.  In doing so, the Court ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment applies the right to keep and bear arms (in the Second Amendment) to all 50 states.

"This is great news for Otis McDonald in Chicago and even greater news for citizens that are languishing under restrictive gun control laws across the country," said Erich Pratt, Director of Communications for Gun Owners of America.

GOA is still poring through the ruling and will have a more detailed analysis later.  [UPDATE: that analysis can be read here.] But in brief, the Court ruled that:

* "The Fourteenth Amendment makes the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms fully applicable to the States."

* "A survey of the contemporaneous history also demonstrates clearly that the Fourteenth Amendment's Framers and ratifiers counted the right to keep and bear arms among those fundamental rights necessary to the Nation's system of ordered liberty."

These are arguments that GOA has been making for years.  In fact, Gun Owners of America submitted an amicus brief in this case and was pleased to see that Justice Clarence Thomas made some of the exact same arguments (found in our brief) in his concurring opinion.

The decision by the Court will have tremendous ramifications for the restrictive gun control laws in California, New York City and elsewhere.

Gun owners, please stay tuned!

Gun Owners Foundation, Gun Owners of America and Virginia Citizens Defense League filed a brief on April 13, 2010 in support of the MT Firearms Freedom Act.  The brief argues that there is no authority for federal gun controls, and that also, even federal law recognizes that MT can have a Firearms Freedom Act.  Click here to Read the brief (pdf).

Warning: The Constitution Can be Hazardous to Children!
by Erich Pratt

(June 14, 2010) On your next trip to the bookstore, you can play a little game. Determine what the following have in common: music with offensive lyrics, R-rated movies and the Constitution.
 
Give up?
 
Everyone knows that the first two items -- certain CDs and DVDs -- have contained warning labels for years. But, thanks to Wilder Publications in Virginia, the Constitution now comes with its own warning label!
 
In its Foundations of Freedom, this publisher has reprinted the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and many other founding documents.
 
But Wilder warns readers that this book, containing these documents, “is a product of its time and does not reflect the same values as it would if it were written today.”
 
The disclaimer goes on to warn parents that they “might wish to discuss with their children before allowing them to read this classic work.” [Read More]

When a New York City mayor does something goofy, a normal reactionis: “there they go again.” When another mayor does the same thingyears later, an additional thought comes to mind. Namely, “what dothey put in the water there?”

In the early 90s when Mayor David Dinkins was in office, a Utahtourist was murdered by a knife-wielding assailant. The next day,Mayor Dinkins held a news conference saying that the previous day’sviolence meant that additional gun control was needed in New York.

Fast forward to the wannabe car bomber who through no thanks to theauthorities failed to carry out his murderous mission. The followingweek, Mayor Michael Bloomberg went to Washington to testify for ahorrendous bill sponsored by that enemy of freedom, NJ’s Sen. FrankLautenberg. The bill? A gun control bill. [Read More]

Chilieans see the need for guns following recent earthquake
(YouTube Video) 

The following article appeared in the USA TODAY on March 3, 2010

Opposing view: Gun controls cost lives

 It's unconstitutional to enact restrictions on law-abiding people
By Erich Pratt

Chicago resident Ronyale White called 911 four times in 2002 when her estranged husband was trying to kill her. When the police finally arrived, they found this mother of three dead on the floor--a mute testimony to the failure of gun control.

That same, tragic story has been repeated many times over in a city that frequently competes for the title of being the nation's murder capital. But all that could end if the Supreme Court rules against Chicago's handgun ban in McDonald v. Chicago.

Gun Owners of America hopes this will be the case.

Support for gun control is at its lowest level in recent memory, according to the latest polls. But gun control supporters -- like those at USA TODAY -- want to walk a tightrope, claiming that Americans can enjoy the right to keep and bear arms while being subjected to "reasonable" gun controls. That's like saying that African Americans in the 1950s could enjoy the right to vote--as long as they paid a little old poll tax.

The fact is, a right delayed is a right denied. And those denials have cost people their lives. Thousands of Ronyale Whites have suffered because their gun rights were denied to them. Yet the Second Amendment says nothing of "reasonable" gun control.

What it does say is that our gun rights "shall not be infringed." Translation: It is constitutionally invalid to enact any bans, licensing requirements or carry restrictions on law-abiding persons who simply want to protect themselves and their families.

Every day, armed gun owners successfully defend their lives all across the country. Recently, a store owner in Louisiana shot and killed an attacker who jumped him in the parking lot; a thug was fatally shot in Kansas after assaulting a man at a car wash; and in Arizona, a gun owner defended himself against four attackers who police said were beating him with a baseball bat.

Without the right to carry firearms away from home, all of these cases would have turned out differently.

Guns save lives -- the lives of the law-abiding.

Erich Pratt is the director of communications for Gun Owners of America.

GOA is partnering with the Right to Carry Road Show and the national team organizing the April 19 Second Amendment March (on the Mall in Washington) to facilitate getting a Florida concealed carry permit.  In about an hour, you can have everything taken care of for getting your Florida permit which is recognized in 33 states at last count.  Go here for more information: http://njcsd.org/rtcrs.

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Legislation in the 111th Congress