January 21, 2021
For immediate release

GOA, GOF Rebuke Warrantless Search, Seizure of Firearm in New Amicus Brief before SCOTUS

Springfield, VA – Gun Owners of America (GOA) and Gun Owners Foundation (GOF) have submitted an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in the case Caniglia v. Strom. The case involves violations of both the Second and Fourth Amendments, after firearms were confiscated during a welfare check, pursuant to the so-called “community caretaking” exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement.

As GOA and GOF’s brief states, “The First Circuit’s decision violates the principle that the exercise of one constitutional right may not permissibly be conditioned on the forfeiture of another constitutional right… The same rejection of balancing tests that was applied to the Second Amendment should apply to the Fourth Amendment.”

Erich Pratt, Senior Vice President of GOA, noted that “The chief question in this case is the ‘community caretaking’ exception to the Fourth Amendment, a judge-created doctrine which has evolved and expanded unchecked in the courts over the years. If this doctrine is allowed to justify the conduct in this case, law enforcement will be able to confiscate Americans’ firearms without a warrant, under the false banner of keeping our communities safe.

“Obviously, gun owners are concerned with their Second Amendment rights, but we also should be vigilant for our Fourth Amendment rights as well. We have seen time and again where Fourth Amendment violations lead to Second Amendment infringements. In the Caniglia case, GOA and GOF are speaking up for both freedoms.”

“Our founders saw the wisdom in not only protecting the right to keep and bear arms, but also freedom from overreaching searches. These two freedoms complement each other while safeguarding fundamental liberty,” Pratt concluded.

Erich Pratt, or another GOA spokesperson, is available for interviews. Gun Owners of America, and its sister organization Gun Owners Foundation, are nonprofits dedicated to protecting the right to keep and bear arms without compromise. For more information, visit GOA’s Press Center.

— GOA —