[hoffmang]

SAF, CALGUNS FOUNDATION CHALLENGES CALIFORNIA HANDGUN BAN SCHEME

For Immediate Release: 4/30/2009

BELLEVUE, WA and REDWOOD CITY, CA – The Second Amendment Foundation, The Calguns Foundation and four California residents today filed a lawsuit challenging a California state law and regulatory scheme that arbitrarily bans handguns based on a roster of “certified” handguns approved by the State. This case parallels a similar case filed in Washington, DC, Hanson v. District of Columbia.

California uses this list despite a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court last summer that protects handguns that ordinary people traditionally use for self-defense, and a recent ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that the Second Amendment applies to state and local governments. The California scheme will eventually ban the purchase of almost all new handguns.

Attorney Alan Gura, representing the plaintiffs in this case, noted that California “tells Ivan Peña that his rights have an expiration date based on payment of a government fee. Americans are not limited to a government list of approved books, or approved religions,” he said. “A handgun protected by the Second Amendment does not need to appear on any government-approved list and cannot be banned because a manufacturer does not pay a special annual fee.”

“The Para Ordnance P-13 was once approved for sale in California,” Peña noted, “but now that a manufacturer didn’t pay a yearly fee, California claims the gun I want to own has somehow become ‘unsafe’.”

“The Glock-21 is the handgun I would choose for home defense, but California has decided the version I need is unacceptable. I was born without a right arm below my elbow and therefore the new ambidextrous version of the Glock-21 is the safest one for me. The identical model designed for right hand use is available in California, but I can’t use it,” said plaintiff Roy Vargas.

Added SAF founder Alan Gottlieb, “The Supreme Court’s decision is crystal clear: Handguns that are used by people for self-defense and other lawful purposes cannot be banned, whether the State likes it or not. California needs to accept the Second Amendment reality.”

Co-counsel Jason Davis remarked, “The California Handgun Roster has always been about making the possession of handguns for self defense more difficult by imposing arbitrary and unconstitutional restrictions that limit choice and increase the cost of exercising a fundamental right.”

Joining plaintiffs Peña and Vargas are Doña Croston and Brett Thomas. Doña Croston’s handgun would be allowed if it were black, green, or brown, but her bi-tone version is supposedly ‘unsafe’ merely based on color. “I didn’t realize that my constitutional rights depended on color. What is it about two colors that makes the gun I want to purchase ‘unsafe’?”

Brett Thomas seeks to own the same model of handgun that the Supreme Court ordered District of Columbia officials to register for Dick Heller. However, that particular model is no longer manufactured, and its maker is no longer available to process the handgun’s certification through the bureaucracy.

“There is only one model of handgun that the Supreme Court has explicitly ruled is protected by the Second Amendment and yet California will not allow me to purchase that gun,” said Mr. Thomas.

“The so-called ‘safe’ gun list is just another gun-grabbing gimmick,” said co-counsel Donald Kilmer. “California can’t get around the Second Amendment, as incorporated, by declaring most normal guns ‘unsafe,’ and gradually shrinking the number of so-called ‘safe’ guns to zero.”

The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nations oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 600,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control. SAF has previously funded successful firearms-related suits against the cities of Los Angeles; New Haven, CT; and San Francisco on behalf of American gun owners, a lawsuit against the cities suing gun makers and an amicus brief and fund for the Emerson case holding the Second Amendment as an individual right.

The Calguns Foundation (www.calgunsfoundation.org) is a non-profit legal defense fund for California gun owners. The Calguns foundation works to educate government and the public and protect the rights of individuals to own and lawfully use firearms in California.

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The complaint is available.

We've held off on NRF's because we didn't want to duplicate work on the Roster.

[ke6guj]

excellent.

[dexter9659]

Nice work! Can you give an approximate time line of the events to follow in the case?

[kermit315]

This is great news. Tagged to watch.

While I hope this will be resolved before I move, I know the reality is that it wont be. If I get my way though, I will be back in California in 3 years, and hopefully have all kinds of doors opened to me upon return.

[unusedusername]

Yay! Now it's just TWO WEEKS

[Blackwater OPS]

Roy and Ivan FTW.

[Hopi]

Great plaintiffs!! Great work!!

[FS00008]

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!


I love it! Two weeks!!!!

[PolishMike]

Great picking of plaintiffs. Smart work.

Mike

Ps - What kind of timetable are we looking at before this case gets heard?

[McCrown]

This is great news!

[AngelDecoys]

I can only imagine the discussion occurring in Sacramento. How fun would it be a fly on the wall in that office.

Nice.

[Tweak338]

Nice work as usual Gene!
(And the other right people )

[Experimentalist]

What a fantastic choice of plaintiffs and handguns.

I wonder what the opposition might say regarding the claim that the pool of approved handguns is / will monotonically decrease (my interpretation of the press release). I suppose the features required to meet the safety threshold could become unacceptably burdensome, but proving it will become true seems challenging.

[PatriotnMore]

Let me mirror the sentiment here, outstanding!!!!!

[trilogy]

<= That's about how happy I am right now. Thank you guys for everything you are doing!

--Matt

[wildhawker]

Hat tip to CGF, SAF, Gura/Kilmer/Davis, the plaintiffs and the folks who brought the second amendment to California; fire up the roller boys, we're doing some paving...

[trashman]

I LOVE IT!!!!

--Neill

[sorensen440]

I like it

[PatriotnMore]

At the peril of two weeks, is there a court date?

[saigon1965]

Hopefully we'll have a nice Christmas -

[AEC1]

Man this is like losing my virgi..... all over again!!

[pidooma]

That Ivan guy is always causing trouble.

[DRM6000]

WOO HOO!!! Thank you fine gentleman at the CGF. I'll donate some dollars to the cause.

[jas000]

Didn't even get halfway through the press release before I scrolled to the "Donate to the CalGuns Foundation" link a the top of the page. $100 to the cause!

[anthonyca]

CGF and the SAF make me proud to be an American and have sworn an oath to defend the Constitution.

Thank you.

[FreshTapCoke]

Scheme indeed.

Thank you for all your work and the hope it brings us.

[chico.cm]

*raises glass*
Long live CGF!

[KUJO]

Long live CGF.

Thanks a lot CGF for fighting to get our rights back.

[sorensen440]

Originally Posted by chico.cm

Long live CGF!

I would actually like the opposite

[JeffM]

Kick *** Gene

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by sorensen440

I would actually like the opposite

+1. If they clean house, they can put CGF to bed.

[highpowermatch]

Feels so good to have the pro gun movment making so much headway, good luck to you all. Great work Calguns!

[k0ncept]

This makes me proud to be an AMERICAN!

[Kishfisser]

Wow, I get caught up in the LaRue craptacular and this pops up. Great news. More to CGF on payday.

[mmbasser]

"What is it about two colors that makes the gun I want to purchase ‘unsafe’?”

That's gotta ring true for anyone with a brain.

Good Show!

[JTecalo]

back to catfood , just sent 50.

Please tell me Brett's "willing seller" is Dick Heller. That would be so poetic. To know the same handgun was responsible for 2 significant rights recovery decisions would be awesome.

Think we can get permission from whoever owns the High Standard name to make a limited edition?

[redneckshootist]

this is awsome, makes me happier than a preachers son at a biker babe rally

[thedrickel]

Send donations guys, I know for a fact that the CGF depends on your donations to facilitate these things. Besides that I just want to say . . .


TWO WEEKS~!!!!!!!!!`11

[tombinghamthegreat]

The gun laws of CA are slowly falling. Look at just 3 years ago, we had to struggle with OLLs now we are moving to get rid of the roster and soon hopefully the AWB laws I approve.