RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN SECOND AMENDMENT LITIGATION Updated December 19, 2013 A.
Introduction and Overview
The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence is tracking litigation involving Second Amendment challenges to federal, state, and local gun laws asserted in the aftermath of the United States Supreme Court’s controversial landmark decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008). In that 5-4 decision, the court held for the first time that the Second Amendment protects an individual right of law-abiding, responsible citizens to keep a handgun in the home for self-defense. This update summarizes the most significant recent Second Amendment lawsuits and decisions. Our more comprehensive analysis and overview of all the Second Amendment decisions since Heller can be found in the Post-Heller Litigation Summary available at http://smartgunlaws.org/post-heller-litigation-summary/. B.
New Lawsuits
Pott v. Witt (D. Ark.): New Second Amendment Foundation Lawsuit Challenges Arkansas’ Prohibition On Issuing Permits To Carry Concealed Weapons to Non-Citizens On November 4, 2013, an individual plaintiff and the Second Amendment Foundation (“SAF”) filed this lawsuit challenging Arkansas’ law barring non-citizens from being granted permits to carry concealed weapons. The lawsuit—like other similar lawsuits by SAF—asserts an equal protection and a Second Amendment claim. San Francisco Veteran Police Officers’ Association v. City & County of San Francisco (N.D. Cal.): New Lawsuit Challenges San Francisco’s Ban on Possession of Large Capacity Ammunition Magazines On November 19, 2013, several organizational and individual plaintiffs filed this lawsuit challenging a San Francisco city ordinance prohibiting the possession of large capacity ammunition magazines—magazines that are capable of holding more than ten rounds of ammunition (California state law already prohibits the manufacture, sale, and purchase of such magazines). The lawsuit claims that the ordinance violates the Second Amendment because large capacity ammunition magazines are allegedly possessed widely and therefore protected under Heller. Fyock et al. v. City of Sunnyvale et al.: New Lawsuit Challenges Sunnyvale’s Ban on Possession of Large Capacity Ammunition Magazines On December 16, 2013, several individual plaintiffs—represented by the NRA’s primary west coast attorney—filed this lawsuit challenging a Sunnyvale, California ordinance prohibiting the possession of large capacity ammunition magazines similar to the San Francisco ordinance
described above. The ordinance was recently passed into law as part of a ballot measure that received 66% of the vote. Just like the San Francisco lawsuit, this lawsuit claims that the ordinance violates the Second Amendment because large capacity ammunition magazines are allegedly possessed widely and therefore protected under Heller. C.
Supreme Court Action
Supreme Court Denies Certiorari in Schrader v. Holder On November 4, 2013, the Supreme Court declined to review Schrader v. Holder, a case involving the federal ban on felons possessing firearms. The plaintiff, who was convicted of a common law misdemeanor over 30 years ago, claimed that the the federal government’s policy of applying the ban to crimes like the one plaintiff was convicted of, which had no set maximum sentence length, violated the Second Amendment. The D.C. Circuit rejected that argument, explaining that the government’s general prohibition on firearm ownership by persons convicted of common law misdemeanors with no maximum sentence length was justified by the government’s interest in preventing violent crime.