NRA STATE ASSOCIATIONS NATIONWIDE URGING SUPREME COURT TO APPLY SECOND AMENDMENT TO STATES

Posted on | February 19, 2010 | No Comments

“A cooperative of nearly all NRA State Associations, including CSSA, has filed an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief in McDonald v. City of Chicago, in which the U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether the Second Amendment, just as the First, Fourth, Sixth, and Eighth Amendments, applies directly to the individual States and their subdivisions via the equal protection and privileges and immunities clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. 

Earlier this year, the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Chicago, ruled that Ottis McDonald’s Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms could not be asserted against the City of Chicago and it’s general handgun ban. 

The Seventh Circuit specifically held that last year’s ruling in Heller v. D.C., which confirmed that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms, was inapplicable because it applied only to federal jurisdictions such as the District of Columbia. 

The Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in New York City, has also issued a ruling similar to that of the Seventh Circuit, while the Ninth Circuit, based in San Francisco, has held that the Second Amendment does in fact apply to the individual states.  This “circuit split” is most likely the reason for the U.S. Supreme Court’s review of the issue; the Court’s decision is expected next year.”

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