SAF Challenges Connecticut Magazine Limit in Federal Lawsuit

U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- The Second Amendment Foundation has filed a federal lawsuit in Connecticut, challenging that state’s seven-year-old ban on so-called “high capacity magazines,” contending that the prohibition only punishes honest gun owners and hasn’t prevented any crimes.

SAF is joined by the Connecticut Citizens Defense League on behalf of two private citizens, Susan Ross and Domenic Basile. They are represented by New York attorney David Jensen.

Named as defendants are Connecticut State Police Col. Stavros Mellekas; Commissioner James C. Rovella of the state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, and Chief State’s Attorney Richard J. Colangelo, Jr., all in their official capacities, SAF said in a prepared statement. The case is known as Ross v. Mellekas.

Connecticut lawmakers instituted the ban in 2013, in an emotion-driven reaction to the 2012 school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, in Newtown. By no small coincidence, the school was not far from the offices of the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

The Hartford Courant quoted Po Murray, chairwoman of the Newtown Action Alliance gun control group. She contended that so-called “assault weapons” and “high capacity magazines” are preferred by mass shooters.

“The U.S. Constitution must protect the lives of innocent children and adults in schools not the gun lobby’s pursuit of profits selling weapons of war designed to efficiently kill maximum number of people,” Murray asserted.

But Holly Sullivan, president of the Connecticut Citizens Defense League, told the newspaper, “Law abiding gun owners in Connecticut are left more susceptible to harm or death by being limited in their means of self-defense. Criminals who are intent on doing harm will not follow this same law.”

Liberty Park Press obtained a copy of the lawsuit. It alleges violations of the Second and Fourteenth amendments. The lawsuit notes that violators can be charged with Class D felonies.

According to the lawsuit, Ross owns a semi-auto pistol with an original-capacity magazine that can hold 17 cartridges. Basile has semi-auto pistols that hold 15 rounds in their magazines. Both are licensed to carry for personal and family protection, but they are fearful that they could be prosecuted for carrying fully-loaded handguns under the state law.

“This law does nothing more than penalize law-abiding citizens while criminalizing components of handguns they own that were previously legal,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “This is a text book example of turning honest citizens into criminals by the mere stroke of a pen by the governor.”

Twenty-six youngsters and adults were killed at the school by a deranged individual who had previously murdered his own mother to gain access to her legally-purchased firearms. As police sped up to the school building, the killer took his own life.

“In their rush to ‘do something’ in the wake of the tragedy at Sandy Hook,” Jensen, the attorney, said, “politicians in Connecticut enacted a slew of restrictions that severely limit the right of self-defense while doing nothing to prevent future tragedies from occurring.

“Nothing is more emblematic of this,” he added, “than the State’s requirement that lawful gun owners load their legally-owned magazines to less than their full capacity as a means of supposedly inhibiting future mass murders. We are pleased to help get this ridiculous restriction off the books.”

The requirement to download magazines has been criticized by gun owners since the law was enacted.

Underscoring their argument is the spree shooting in Isla Vista, California in 2014 in which a deranged man named Elliot Rodger murdered six people including three he fatally stabbed. He had purchased three handguns over the course of several months, passing three California background checks and going through the state-mandated 10-day waiting period for each purchase.
Rodger fatally shot three people and injured several others, using two of the three pistols. Investigators found only California-compliant 10-round magazines in the man’s car after he crashed and committed suicide.

“Original capacity magazines are not dangerous or unusual,” Gottlieb said. “They’re in common use all over the country. But the Connecticut law makes it illegal to use such magazines, which amounts to a deprivation of rights under federal law.”

The Hartford Courant quoted Po Murray, chairwoman of the Newtown Action Alliance gun control group. She contended that so-called “assault weapons” and “high capacity magazines” are preferred by mass shooters.

“The U.S. Constitution must protect the lives of innocent children and adults in schools not the gun lobby’s pursuit of profits selling weapons of war designed to efficiently kill maximum number of people,” Murray asserted.

But Holly Sullivan, president of the Connecticut Citizens Defense League, responded, “Criminals who are intent on doing harm will not follow this same law.”

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About Dave Workman

Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books #add on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.