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Poll: Americans Say Cities Have No Right To Ban Handguns

AnyTown USA City Council Looks to Ban Guns

Second Amendment Foundation

BELLEVUE, WA --(AmmoLand.com)- A new Rasmussen poll has revealed that an overwhelming majority of Americans reject the notion that cities have a right to ban handguns, siding with the Second Amendment Foundation’s position in its lawsuit to overturn the Chicago ban.

Oral arguments in the SAF case were heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday. Court observers predict the high court will overturn the Chicago ban, thus incorporating the Second Amendment to state and local governments through provisions in the 14th Amendment.

Results from Rasmussen’s national telephone survey found that 69 percent of the respondents say cities have no right to ban legal handgun ownership, while 25 percent believe cities can ban guns.

“The Rasmussen survey clearly shows that Americans have grown weary of anti-gun municipal demagoguery,” said SAF Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “A victory in our case before the Supreme Court should send a clear signal to gun prohibitionists like Chicago Mayor Richard Daley that arbitrarily disarming law-abiding citizens under the guise of fighting crime is an idea that has no place in this country.”

SAF is joined in its case by the Illinois State Rifle Association and four Chicago residents, including Otis McDonald, for whom the Supreme Court case is named.

The Rasmussen poll also found very little difference between current public sentiment and earlier surveys that noted 70 percent of American adults believe the U.S. Constitution guarantees the individual right to own a firearm.

“For years,” Gottlieb said, “the anti-gun lobby has been claiming majority support for its Draconian agenda, but polling data like this new information from Rasmussen shows that the public is not about to surrender a significant civil right. We believe the Supreme Court is on the verge of expanding the scope of that right by applying the Second Amendment to the states.”

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 650,000 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.

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Promising Arguments in McDonald v. Chicago 2nd Amendment Case
By Jeff Knox – The Firearms Coalition

FirearmsCoalition.org

Washington, DC --(AmmoLand.com)- The Supreme Court has concluded hearing oral arguments in the case of McDonald v. Chicago, the Second Amendment Foundation’s challenge to Chicago’s gun ban.

As expected, the Justices gave strong indications that they intend to “incorporate” the Second Amendment to apply it against the states and declare Chicago’s gun ban unconstitutional.

That will of course be followed by Chicago Mayor Daley trying to loosen the law to the absolute minimum for compliance with the Court’s order just like Washington, DC did.

I expect to see at least two more lawsuits against Chicago before an average citizen will be able to purchase and possess a handgun in their home. One of the big questions in this case is whether the Court will use the “privileges or immunities” clause or the “equal protection” ["due process."] clause to apply the Second Amendment to the states.

From their questions and comments, it sounded like they were not inclined to overturn previous bad precedents in order to use the “privileges or immunities” clause so it is likely they will stick with the tried and true (if somewhat convoluted) method of incorporation under the “equal protection” clause. None of that really matters as far as application of the Second Amendment is concerned though.

What really matters is whether the Justices include more superfluous BS in the decision like they did in Heller. Scalia’s assertions and assumptions in his written opinion in Heller have been predictably used to abuse the rights of gun owners. For now things look very good for a favorable ruling though. We can expect that to come out sometime in late June. As always, we’ll keep you posted.

We are still collecting and sharing information about NRA Director candidates over at www.GunVoter.org. If you have any information about any of the candidates we want to hear from you. Also, if you have any questions for or about the candidates, we’d like to see those posted as well. Of course we’re always interested in any information about candidates for public office at all levels. Remember that we are offering FREE YourName@GunVoter.org email addresses for active members of www.GunVoter.org. Stop by the site for details.

Please forward this article to everyone you know might be interested.

About:
The Firearms Coalition is a loose-knit coalition of individual Second Amendment activists, clubs and civil rights organizations. Founded by Neal Knox in 1984, the organization provides support to grassroots activists in the form of education, analysis of current issues, and with a historical perspective of the gun rights movement. The Firearms Coalition is a project of Neal Knox Associates, Manassas, VA. Visit: www.FirearmsCoalition.org

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