BELLEVUE, WA –-(Ammoland.com)- PATRIOTS: The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) continues to fight for our gun rights any chance they get. They are currently taking action in the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS).
SAF’s latest move to protect the Second Amendment came when they filed a petition to the SCOTUS for review of its challenge to the exorbitant gun permit fees charged by the City of New York. The case is Kwong v. de Blasio.
SAF has also gained an immense amount of support in another Supreme Court case, Drake v. Jerejian, which asks the U.S. Supreme Court to determine whether the Second Amendment secures the right to carry handguns outside the home for self-defense.
Currently, the Second Amendment Foundation is involved in approximately thirty lawsuits as part of our efforts to defend the right to keep and bear arms. It is imperative we collect as many resources as possible to challenge anti-gun rights laws from coast to coast. WE CANNOT DO IT WITHOUT YOU!
The lawsuit, case Kwong v. de Blasio, challenges New York City’s $340 fee for a three-year handgun license, which is the highest such fee imposed for a gun possession license anywhere in the United States. Anywhere else in the entire state of New York is $10, but the city is exempted from that law. The city’s higher fee discourages city residents from exercising their civil rights while violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The fee structure discriminates against all but the wealthy and well-connected elites. This prohibitively high fee leaves average citizens defenseless due to their financial situation, but the right of self-defense and exercise of the Second Amendment should not be limited solely to those with deep pockets and fat wallets.
The federal district court and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals both sided with the city’s argument that the higher fee is allowable to recover costs and promote public safety.
This recurring fee constitutes a substantial burden on the exercise of a fundamental civil right. Nowhere in the Constitution does it condition the exercise of a civil right on the amount of money one has in the bank.
The NJ right to carry case is Drake v. Jerejian has gained an incredible amount of support of late. In addition to briefs filed by 19 state attorneys general and 34 members of Congress, our case has now gotten support from our friends at the National Rifle Association, Gun Owners Foundation, the Cato Institute and Madison Society Foundation, plus the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence and the Judicial Education Project.
Naturally, from our perspective, the issue seems to beg for a definitive ruling that settles the question for the entire nation. We have divisive lower court opinions on a fundamental civil right that require resolution, and there’s only one place this can happen.
The briefs submitted in support of our effort include some of the most intelligent and well-thought-out arguments on the Second Amendment’s scope we’ve ever seen. We will be forever grateful to all of those who put so much time, effort and intellect into these briefs. They really are remarkably clear and compelling documents.
It is time for the high court to clarify that the right to bear arms does not stop at someone’s front door. What other constitutional right is confined to one’s house? The Second Amendment was never meant to be encumbered with such a limitation, and it cannot possibly be interpreted that way, but it will take a Supreme Court ruling to convince lower courts and anti-gunners, and put this debate to rest.
Gun grabbers think that past gun control efforts have worn us down and hope you and I will quit the fight to protect individual rights.
I am counting on you. I know times are tough for everyone but if you could please make a special emergency gift to SAF of $100 or $50 or whatever you can afford, anything will help.
Please contribute your emergency gift immediately. Tomorrow is too late. I know I can count on you.
Times are tough but as things get tougher it’s critical we have gun rights.
To continue educational and legal action projects we rely on people like you who care. Unlike gun grabbers we don’t have deep pockets or big shot donors but we will never back down from them. Not with our Second Amendment in jeopardy.
Thank you. Your support means a lot to me.
Sincerely yours,
Alan M. GottliebFounder
Second Amendment Foundation
P.S. Remember, the anti-gunners are raising tens of thousands of dollars to steal our rights from us — we need your support now to help stop them dead in their tracks!
To send a check, please mail to:Second Amendment Foundation
James Madison Building
Dept Code 145
12500 NE 10th Place
Bellevue, WA 98005
The Second Amendment Foundation (www.SAF.org) is the nation’s 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.