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The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF)--a firearms civil rights legal defense, research and educational organization that publishes Gun Week and other periodicals filed a federal lawsuit on Nov.30 in federal court in Washington, DC, against the US Conference of Mayors (USCM) and certain individual mayors for conspiracy to violate civil and constitutional rights, including the First, Second and Ninth Amendments, as well as the creation of undue burden on lawful interstate commerce.
Joining SAF as a co-plaintiff in the suit is the Shooters Committee On Political Education (SCOPE Inc.), a statewide gunowner organization in New York. Various individuals, including two federally licensed firearms dealers, are also co-plaintiffs.
"We warned both the USCM and individuals, mayors of our intent to defend our rights and those of millions of law-abiding Americans," said Alan M. Gottlieb, founder of SAF. "We gave them every opportunity to cease and desist their warrantless attacks. Now, they are being sued; while their meritless and frivolous lawsuits are being dealt serious blows in the courts."
As reported earlier in Gun Week, the city of Cincinnati earned the dubious distinction of being the first city to be derailed in their attack against firearm manufacturers, distributors and trade associations. An Ohio court firmly held that the city's lawsuit was both vague and unsupported by legal precedent.
In addition, a large portion of the city of Atlanta's lawsuit against the firearms industry was also dismissed, with serious doubts surrounding the remaining portion of the suit. And a Connecticut court that heard motions to dismiss a similar suit filed by the city of Bridgeport is expected to rule in the next few weeks.
"In addition, the USCM readily admits that they are seeking legislation in the courtrooms, which is a clear violation of the separation of powers upon which our great country was founded. This is cause to hold individual mayors and the USCM responsible for their conspiratorial and unconstitutional assaults on law-abiding people:' he continued.
The SAF/SCOPE lawsuit alleges three counts against the defendants.
Count 1 is for violation of lawful interstate commerce. The mayors' legal challenges have already forced several gunmakers to declare bankruptcy, severely downsize their product lines, and/ or raise firearm prices, thus hurting consumers-including taxpayer-funded federal, state and local law enforcement agencies all across the country.
Count 2 is for violation of First Amendment rights. The mayors' lawsuits have prevented the gun manufacturers from educating consumers about their products out of fear of seeing ads in the courtrooms, not to mention that many of the mayors' lawsuits are trying to eliminate or severely curtail the ability of running ads on firearm products in general.
Count 3 is for violation of the Second and Ninth Amendment rights. The Second Amendment is an individual right to keep and bear arms, according to the recent United States v. Emerson, 46 F.Supp.2d 599 (N.D. Tex. 1999). The mayors attempt to abridge the right to keep and bear arms by putting gunmakers out of business causes a violation of the individual's means to self-defense which is recognized in every courtroom and falls under the Ninth Amendment rights.
A copy of the complaint filed in the DC court can be found on the Second Amendment Foundation website: www.saf.org or may be obtained by sending an SASE to SAF at 12500 NE Tenth Place, Bellevue, WA 98005.
Attorney Richard Gardiner, a well-known Washington, DC area firearms civil rights attorney, is the lead attorney working this case against the mayors.
"The mayors are on notice that their lawsuits will not be free," said Gottlieb. "The Second Amendment Foundation and gunowners across the country will make them accountable for attempting to steal in the judicial branch what they have failed to win in the legislative branch."
The Second Amendment Foundation is a tax-exempt education, legal defense and publishing organization founded in 1974 that has over 600,000 individual citizen supporters nationwide. It previously has funded successful firearms-related suits against the cities of Los Angeles, New Haven. CT. and San Francisco on behalf of American gunowners.
Reprinted from The New Gun Week, Dec. 20, 1999
CLICK HERE TO VIEW A COPY OF THE COMPLAINT
Related: List of Communities Sold Out by Their Uncostitutional Leadership HUD
Other lawsuits involving SCOPE: 1994 lawsuit vs the Council of the City of Rochester
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