Gun Rights: Orchestrating the Court Strategy
Second Amendment Foundation in Action
To help fight those who wish to trample on our constitutional rights, the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) legal program abides by strategic and tactical goals in selecting lawsuits. As a national nonprofit, we prioritize new litigation for those issues that affect the largest populations of people or whose burdens on the right are most extreme. We are always looking for individual cases that represent an important legal issue or a novel infringement on someone’s rights. We maintain our “Submit-a-Case” form on our website, SAF.org, for that very purpose.
Who, What, Where …
Our current programmatic priorities can be most simply described as addressing the “Who, What and Where” of the Second Amendment.
The “Who” is a question that’s easy enough to answer. Who can exercise the full collection of rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment? For example, SAF’s ongoing legal campaign to vindicate the right to carry for adults aged 18-20 across the country who live in jurisdictions where carry is limited to those 21 and older.
Up next is “What.” What types of arms are covered by the Second Amendment? Cases here include “assault weapons” bans, magazine capacity bans, roster cases, etc. Examples include our Gray and Graham cases challenging the assault weapon and magazine capacity bans in Delaware and Snope v. Brown, our challenge to the Maryland “assault weapon” ban. As of this writing, all three cases are currently awaiting a decision from the Supreme Court as to whether they will take the cases this term. It’s possible, however, that has changed since this article went to print.
Last is “Where,” which is best explained as where firearms owners are allowed to legally carry. Examples of these cases include our challenges to the so-called “sensitive place” carry bans passed in response to the landmark Bruen decision, as well as mass transit and post office carry bans. SAF scored a victory recently in Schoenthal v. Raoul where we secured a declaratory judgment striking down Illinois’ mass transit carry ban as unconstitutional.
Long Term … Short Term
While many cases frequently take years to work through the process, the ultimate goal is to get relief as soon as possible for the peaceable gun owners who are affected while also creating good case law that will have a lasting effect for years to come. For this reason, our legal challenges will frequently include requests for emergency preliminary relief, designed to immediately put a halt to the constitutional violation early on in the case.
Of course, the highest court in the land is the United States Supreme Court, and ultimately, they are the final arbiters of the law. There are particular types of cases that the Supreme Court will address, and SAF’s litigation program is tailored to meet those needs.
One way to get the Court’s attention is to highlight to the justices that a particular circuit court (or perhaps multiple) is failing to faithfully apply the express direction the Supreme Court has laid out in how to properly deal with Second Amendment cases.
Another way is to highlight a disagreement or inconsistency between two or more circuit courts in what’s known as a “circuit split.” Because our federal system requires that the interpretation of federal law is consistent from one part of the country to another, when circuit courts disagree and come to inconsistent conclusions, it’s the Supreme Court’s job to step in and settle the dispute.
For as much strategy goes into taking up a case, we must also be strategic as to what cases NOT to bring. First and foremost, resources are finite. It is our responsibility to use the money so generously donated by our supporters to get the maximum benefit for the most people. Second, we must be as mindful of creating bad case law as we are about creating good case law. Bad case law gets applied to new cases going forward, making it even more difficult to win in the courtroom and causing damage to the movement.
To date, SAF has been involved in more than 260 cases and currently has 57 active lawsuits across the country. At the time of this writing, SAF has won 11 cases in the legal arena this year, all with the same goal in mind —to defend, secure and restore the right to keep and bear arms.
The Long Game
For more than 50 years, the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) has been fighting to defend, secure and restore our Second Amendment rights.
From the landmark Supreme Court victory in McDonald v. City of Chicago to triumphs in state and local courthouses all over the country, the organization has scored countless wins over our 50-year history. SAF’s win in McDonald is critical in the fight against modern gun control, as it paved the way for legal action against states and municipalities for violations of the Second Amendment.
We are at the forefront of numerous legal battles, challenging unconstitutional firearms regulations like “assault weapon” bans, magazine capacity bans, bans on the purchase, possession, and carry of firearms for adults between the ages of 18- to 20-years-old, “sensitive places” carry restrictions, red flag laws, rights restorations for prohibited persons and many, many more. Through aggressive, strategic litigation, we have successfully challenged restrictive gun laws across the nation, dismantling impediments to the right to keep and bear arms for all Americans.
For more info: SAF.org
