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NRA Pouring Millions into Failed Attempts to Attack Anti-Gun Laws
Monday, October 10, 2011

The National Rifle Association (NRA) has not enjoyed the legal success it anticipated after the U.S. Supreme Court three years ago affirmed the right to own handguns while striking down the District of Columbia’s tough gun-control law.

The NRA since then has spent millions of dollars on lawyers to challenge state gun laws, believing the 2008 District of Columbia v. Hellerdecision signaled the judicial system was on its side. Instead, the gun-rights organization has lost numerous court cases, including in Second Amendment-friendly Texas, where a judge ruled against the NRA’s effort to give teenagers the right to buy semi-automatic handguns.

“Never before have so many courts so cogently affirmed the constitutionality of so many strong gun laws in such a short span of time,” wrote Dennis Henigan, acting president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

The NRA suffered another significant setback when it tried to rollback more gun control laws in DC, going after the city’s ban on semiautomatic assault weapons and ammunition, as well as its mandatory handgun registration. The D.C. Circuit Court rejected the challenge, ruling the district’s toughest-in-the-nation gun laws did not infringe on the core of the Second Amendment.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

How Many Second Amendment Cases Will the NRA Lose? (by Dennis Henigan, Huffington Post)

Capital's Gun Law Is Upheld (by Jess Bravin, Wall Street Journal)

Lower Courts Clash with Supreme Court over Gun Rights Rulings (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

Comments

john coward - 10/12/2011 10:32:09 AM
get real dummies, you do not have civil rights. the 2nd amendment is a right to die. any person in kommicalifornia knowns leo shoot on site. try any weapon seen on site will generate "man with gun call" to leo. results simply mean to are arrested if lucky, most will be shot period end of story. look at history, man walking on trail ambushed by leo in uniform. what crime commited dead man had a rifle, while 6-7 leos shoot suspect dead. like wise in city, young man walking on side walk with ak47, shot dead. take your turn, trust in luck, who will be next.

Nanjing03 - 10/10/2011 2:40:40 PM
the u.s. supreme court “already affirmed” the right of law abiding citizens to keep and bear arms. there is no need to hear the case over and over again. certainly, "bearing" arms entails "possessing" arms outside of the front door threshold of one’s home. perhaps the law abiding citizens should consider the following facts in presenting their case. perhaps the less-than law abiding city regimes of dc and chicago should consider it too: today, about 40 states now have a provision for "shall issue" concealed carry permits, 5 states -- which includes maryland -- offer the more arbitrary and unworkable "may issue," and 4 states simply allow law abiding citizens to carry without a permit. in the "shall issue," states, according to the u.s. department of justice studies through their own national institute of justice /bureau of justice statistics, and the fbi uniform crime report, every year for the last two decades, there are fewer violent crimes and fewer gun accidents where law abiding citizens are allowed to keep and bear arms. essentially, according to nij/bjs and the fbi, more guns = less crime. naturally, the rates of decreasing violent crime and gun accidents vary according to the length of time a "shall issue" state had concealed carry in place and the percentage of citizens who choose to exercise the option. regardless, the declining violent crime and declining gun accidents more than just correlate to the "shall issue" policies of those states. there is a definite causal effect to more guns and less crime. just as the doj, nij/bjs, and the fbi are the hallmarks in research and statistics credibility, there are still politically motivated and tenacious entities like the brady campaign to prevent handgun violence (formally handgun control, inc.), the oddly named violence policy center, and michael bloomberg's mayors against illegal handguns that shamelessly cite discredited studies, or simply pull numbers out of thin air while crafting bogus arguments to piously stand in the way of continuing reforms. gun control in america was a chronic failure. gun control is dead. it’s time to bury it where it falls.

Mike Crews - 10/10/2011 8:09:55 AM
how can a judge say no to something already done? what is this legal system coming to? it would be rediculus if it wasn't so dangerous. there is no such thing sold in america (legally to a citizen) as a rifle called an assault rife-i used one-an m-16 many years ago in the army. i have yet to see one again-what is going on? get your head out of your posterior and listen to simple true words-one trigger pull equals one shot! simple get real we have enough problems without so much mickey mouse bs...