Public Housing Versus 2A

Once again last month, a public housing authority — this one in Cortland, New York — learned from a federal court that prohibiting privately owned firearms in a facility for low-income citizens is not allowed under the Second Amendment.

U.S. District Judge Glenn T. Suddaby with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York signed the order granting a permanent injunction against the Cortland Housing Authority prohibiting any sort of firearms ban against CHA tenants. This was a case brought by the Second Amendment Foundation and three private citizens, Robert Hunter, Elmer Irwin and Doug Merrin.

This was not the first time a housing authority was bad-newsed by a court. Almost 30 years ago, the NRA sued over a public housing gun ban in Portland, Maine. The state Supreme Judicial Court ruled 6-0 against the housing authority, but in that case, the Second Amendment wasn’t used. Instead, the court decided the Portland Housing Authority (PHA) was not authorized to adopt such a ban.

In 2012, SAF took the Warren County, Ill., housing authority to court for penalizing resident Ronald G. Winbigler, who lived at Costello Terrace. This guy was a disabled, retired police officer, and he definitely had a legitimate reason to have a gun. The case was known as Winbigler v. Warren Co. Housing Authority and it should have served as a warning flag to other PHAs not to include ban language in their lease agreements.

Seven years later, SAF was back in court again, this time in East St. Louis, Ill., challenging a gun ban in the East St. Louis Housing Authority (ESLHA) facility. Once again, a federal judge issued a permanent injunction.

Two years ago, SAF supported a case in which it was not a plaintiff. A guy named Kinsley Braden sued the PHA in Columbia, Tenn. This time around, the case was decided in a state court of appeals, and the verdict was essentially the same: Public Housing residence does not require that the people living there give up their fundamental right to keep and bear arms.

Each of these cases is important because they have established legal precedents which, in an ideal world, will alert other housing authority managers to knock this off. Public housing units are, unfortunately, often crime scenes. Where better to have a firearm for personal protection than such a place?

Rights Apply Everywhere

This may seem silly to mention, but it sometimes becomes necessary to remind bureaucrats and other government officials that the Constitution goes through doors, windows, up staircases and up and down elevators. It’s everywhere, courtesy of a 2010 Supreme Court decision known as McDonald v. City of Chicago.

Not only did this ruling nullify Chicago’s 30-year-old handgun ban, but it also incorporated the Second Amendment into the states via the 14th Amendment. It was that provision in the decision that opened the floodgates for SAF, NRA, the Firearms Policy Coalition, Gun Owners of America and other groups to initiate legal actions against state and local gun control laws that are of questionable constitutional legitimacy.

When such restrictive laws and regulations are challenged, a lot of homework is done long before a lawsuit is filed. There is a small but very skilled community of attorneys around the country who specialize in Second Amendment cases. I know some of these guys and have written about others, and they are all very good at this.

Clients/plaintiffs aren’t just picked out of the crowd. Their cases are examined, they’re vetted, and only then are the complaints (lawsuits) prepared. At the time this column was written, SAF was involved in at least 57 separate cases all over the country. The group had petitioned the Supreme Court in at least four cases for review — the legal term is certiorari — and the court meets regularly to determine whether a case will be accepted.

By the time a case gets to the high court, tens of thousands of dollars have already been spent on legal bills, so if you have a few spare dollars, make a donation to a gun rights group. If you do it before Dec. 31, it just might be tax deductible!

It’s important to pick the right cases for what the insiders call “strategic litigation.” Not every beef over gun rights gets a lawsuit. Attorneys and the groups they represent must be careful because bad cases can result in bad rulings, which translates to bad law. So, just because you have a problem with a local gun law doesn’t mean you should file a lawsuit. Sometimes, you shouldn’t take legal action to avoid setting a bad precedent.

SAF’s Story in Video

The Second Amendment Foundation is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and a fascinating 25-minute video featuring comments and observations by some of the key players in the movement has been posted on YouTube. I was honored to be a small part of this project.

In addition, there are several short, individual commentaries by such luminaries as SAF founder Alan Gottlieb, American Handgunner’s own Massad Ayoob, who also serves as SAF president, plus “Gun Talk” host Tom Gresham, historian David Hardy, SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut, veteran civil rights attorney Don Kilmer and several others.

All of these folks have insights and perspectives on the fight to restore the Second Amendment, and they are worth watching.

Call it karma or something else, but in the greater Seattle area — the Northwest nerve center of all things liberal, including gun control and anti-hunting — there is a problem with coyotes. This happens frequently when people build homes and apartments, strip malls and other things where ‘yotes and other wildlife live.

Seattle’s KIRO recently reported one of these incidents (one is usually all it takes to start the shrieking) and the reaction from at least some of the old-timers was, “Well, DUH!”

I don’t think much about coyotes because if they become a problem where I live, they might just get shot. That normally doesn’t happen in an urban setting, of course, but in rural America, plugging a problem songdog or just hunting them for pelts or to reduce predation on deer and elk through the winter and into the spring is an endeavor enjoyed by a lot of people.

When I walk down my road, I’ve always got a sidearm. Typically, it’s a .38 Special loaded with 110- or 125-grain JHPs ahead of a charge of HP-38, Auto-Comp or CFE Pistol, ignited by a standard small pistol primer. I’ve also got a fixed sight Ruger Single Six in .32 H&R Magnum for which I’ve worked up a load using a 100-grain Speer JHP over a decent charge of H110, and it’s a sizzler.

MAILBAG

Mr. Workman: 
Once more, you are spot on (‘Told Ya So’ Sept. 20) and like you, I am facing poor leadership within the state I live in. They are trying to make people believe that old-timers like me should not be able to protect themselves.

My wife and I are disabled, which makes us soft targets, and folks like us all over the country are at risk because of our conversation. I could give you a shopping list of the outrageous policies of the state just south of you, and it’s sickening. I made a terrible mistake moving back to the area, and now we are trapped as the leadership has been a continuous disaster as criminals come from all over to bask in a haven of ilk. I could go on, but you get the drift, and I not say anymore, except we have the third worst health care in the nation, and our school system ranks 45th in the nation, coupled with the trafficking of drugs and other things. Our law enforcement is overwhelmed, yet they carry the load and do the right thing, and I have friends in the field as I am retired law enforcement. Keep up the great information, and stay safe.

— Ric Fondren

Dave replies: Poor policies developed under one-party rule only penalize honest citizens like yourself. I’ve spent the last quarter-century writing about these people and their policies, and I can find no redeeming social value anywhere. Your story is like so many others I’ve heard about over the years, and all I can say is good luck, stay safe and shoot straight. Thanks so much for reading Insider Online.

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