Texas Attorney General Abbott Files Brief with United States Supreme Court; Takes Action to...

AUSTIN - Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court that defends Americans’ right to keep and bear arms. The amicus brief, which was filed on behalf of 33 state attorneys general, supports a legal challenge by Otis McDonald, a community activist who lives in a high-crime Chicago neighborhood. McDonald’s work to improve his neighborhood has subjected him to violent threats from drug dealers, but city ordinances prohibit him from obtaining a handgun to protect himself. The state attorneys general argue that cities cannot simply ignore the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and impose a blanket ban on handguns.

“Last year, the Supreme Court of the United States struck down the District of Columbia’s handgun ban and held that the Second Amendment protects individual Americans’ right to keep and bear arms,” Attorney General Abbott said. “The brief filed today urges the nation’s highest court to hear community activist Otis McDonald’s challenge to an ordinance that prohibits him from possessing a handgun to protect himself from the criminals he has worked to eradicate from his high-crime neighborhood. Today’s amicus brief reflects an effort by more than thirty attorneys general to defend law-abiding Americans’ constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms.”

The states’ amicus brief says: “The right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment is not just a ‘fundamental’ liberty interest. In the Anglo-American tradition, it is among the most fundamental of rights because it is essential to securing all our other liberties. The Founders well understood that, without the protections afforded by the Second Amendment, all of the other rights and privileges ordinarily enjoyed by Americans would be vulnerable to governmental acts of oppression.”

According to the states’ amicus brief, the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution applies to states under the Fourteenth Amendment, and the right to keep and bear arms is a right that states have long recognized. In fact, 44 state constitutions protect their residents’ right to bear arms. The brief adds: “The submission of this amicus brief provides further evidence of the States’ understanding of the fundamental importance of the arms-bearing right guaranteed by the Second Amendment.”

“Just as local governments cannot constitutionally act as ‘laboratories’ for initiatives to abrogate their citizens’ right to free speech or their freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures, nor can they nullify the fundamental right to keep and bear arms secured by the Second Amendment,” the amicus brief states.

The states’ amicus brief acknowledges that some firearms regulations are permissible, including in circumstances where they are necessary to prevent violent felons from owning guns.

The states ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear both the McDonald case and National Rifle Association of America Inc., et al v. City of Chicago, Ill., et al.

The states that joined Texas in the amicus brief are: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming.

1 posted on 07/07/2009 2:47:44 PM PDT by neverdem

Way to go!

Just when it seems we need it most.

Our "elected" representatives have collectively gone insane and decided:
1. We don't have a "right" to protect ourselves.
2. When in the hole due to overspending, the first thing to be reduced from the budget is police at all levels.

It used to be that most rational people agreed that without physical safety, all other "rights" are meaningless.

2 posted on 07/07/2009 2:53:57 PM PDT by Publius6961 (Change is not a plan; Hope is not a strategy.)

Finally...a Chicago "O" I can get on board with. Go Otis! Bet there's another Chicago O who wouldn't be too happy to hear this.

3 posted on 07/07/2009 2:56:52 PM PDT by TXBlair (White-knuckling my way through the next three and a half years.)

So that leaves just the crappy states that don’t beleive in the Constitution:

Arizona
California
Connecticut
Delaware
Hawaii
Illinois
Iowa
Maryland
Massachusetts
Nevada
New Jersey
New York
Oregon
Rhode Island
Tennessee (this is the only one that surprised me)
Vermont
Wisconsin

4 posted on 07/07/2009 2:57:55 PM PDT by SirAllen (Atheist: someone who believes that nothing made everything)

Wisconsin allows open-carry bud.

5 posted on 07/07/2009 2:59:52 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist ("President Obama, your agenda is not new, it's not change, and it's not hope" - Rush Limbaugh 02/28)

To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

That’s great but they didn’t join the brief.

Also they don’t allow CCW or open carry in vehicles do they?

6 posted on 07/07/2009 3:05:44 PM PDT by SirAllen (Atheist: someone who believes that nothing made everything)

Tennessee allows concealed carry.

7 posted on 07/07/2009 3:09:56 PM PDT by rsobin

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2287536/posts

“California attorney general Edmund G. Brown Jr. is filing a separate brief arguing that the Supreme Court should take up NRA’s appeal and hold that the Second Amendment is incorporated against the States.”

8 posted on 07/07/2009 3:11:55 PM PDT by LisaAnne

9 posted on 07/07/2009 3:12:40 PM PDT by Former MSM Viewer

Vermont has had concealed carry right, not privilege.

10 posted on 07/07/2009 3:33:18 PM PDT by neverdem (Xin loi minh oi)

11 posted on 07/07/2009 3:35:48 PM PDT by BCR #226 (07/02 SOT www.extremefirepower.com...The BS stops when the hammer drops.)

Arizona's non-participation surprised me.

However, I suspect it's a function of who is occupying the Attorney General office, rather than a representation of the state's politics.

12 posted on 07/07/2009 3:37:01 PM PDT by justlurking (The only remedy for a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.)

Which is why I said it surprised me that they did not join the brief with the other 33 states. Is their AG a gun hating lib?

13 posted on 07/07/2009 3:42:20 PM PDT by SirAllen (Atheist: someone who believes that nothing made everything)

Yes Vermont is a very strange state (gun-law wise). Unfortunately, I was not surprised to see that they did not join this brief.

14 posted on 07/07/2009 3:45:51 PM PDT by SirAllen (Atheist: someone who believes that nothing made everything)

So sad that this is even necessary.

15 posted on 07/07/2009 4:42:34 PM PDT by OrangeHoof (YES WE CAN have a Depression.)

Now here is where I believe we are making the most impact...

This is a message to the administration, to Holder, and to the rest of the gun-control community that you had better back off...

Couple this, with the overwhelming buying spree the country is going thru since the election...

I believe they are getting the hint...

But then again, we are still one tragedy away from a reaction by these kuckleheads that will have serious ramifications I am afraid...

Also, what I gain strength in is the fact that in that event, my civil disobediance knows no boundaries...

16 posted on 07/07/2009 7:08:35 PM PDT by stevie_d_64

17 posted on 07/07/2009 10:53:30 PM PDT by TenthAmendmentChampion (Be prepared for tough times. FReepmail me to learn about our survival thread!)

Arizona has concealed carry with a permit. Heck, you can walk down the street with the gun in plain sight in most places in the state.

18 posted on 07/07/2009 10:55:22 PM PDT by TenthAmendmentChampion (Be prepared for tough times. FReepmail me to learn about our survival thread!)

Take Vermont off the list. Long ago their supreme court declared the RKBA was fundamental and voided practically all gun laws. Carry what you want how you want, don’t even have to ask permission.

Insofar as Vermont has not filed an amicus brief, doing so is moot from their POV. RKBA is simply not an issue in that state.

19 posted on 07/08/2009 5:09:42 AM PDT by ctdonath2 (John Galt was exiled.)

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Texas Attorney General Abbott Files Brief with United States Supreme Court; Takes Action to Protect Texans' Second Amendment Rights Texas Amicus Brief Joined by 32 State Attorneys General

AUSTIN - Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court that defends Americans’ right to keep and bear arms. The amicus brief, which was filed on behalf of 33 state attorneys general, supports a legal challenge by Otis McDonald, a community activist who lives in a high-crime Chicago neighborhood. McDonald’s work to improve his neighborhood has subjected him to violent threats from drug dealers, but city ordinances prohibit him from obtaining a handgun to protect himself. The state attorneys general argue that cities cannot simply ignore the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and impose a blanket ban on handguns. “Last year, the Supreme Court of the United States struck down the District of Columbia’s handgun ban and held that the Second Amendment protects individual Americans’ right to keep and bear arms,” Attorney General Abbott said. “The brief filed today urges the nation’s highest court to hear community activist Otis McDonald’s challenge to an ordinance that prohibits him from possessing a handgun to protect himself from the criminals he has worked to eradicate from his high-crime neighborhood. Today’s amicus brief reflects an effort by more than thirty attorneys general to defend law-abiding Americans’ constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms.” The states’ amicus brief says: “The right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment is not just a ‘fundamental’ liberty interest. In the Anglo-American tradition, it is among the most fundamental of rights because it is essential to securing all our other liberties. The Founders well understood that, without the protections afforded by the Second Amendment, all of the other rights and privileges ordinarily enjoyed by Americans would be vulnerable to governmental acts of oppression.” According to the states’ amicus brief, the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution applies to states under the Fourteenth Amendment, and the right to keep and bear arms is a right that states have long recognized. In fact, 44 state constitutions protect their residents’ right to bear arms. The brief adds: “The submission of this amicus brief provides further evidence of the States’ understanding of the fundamental importance of the arms-bearing right guaranteed by the Second Amendment.” “Just as local governments cannot constitutionally act as ‘laboratories’ for initiatives to abrogate their citizens’ right to free speech or their freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures, nor can they nullify the fundamental right to keep and bear arms secured by the Second Amendment,” the amicus brief states. The states’ amicus brief acknowledges that some firearms regulations are permissible, including in circumstances where they are necessary to prevent violent felons from owning guns. The states ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear both the McDonald case and National Rifle Association of America Inc., et al v. City of Chicago, Ill., et al. The states that joined Texas in the amicus brief are: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming.