SUMMARY JUDGMENT!!! We just won summary judgment striking down the ATF’s forced reset trigger ban in a scathing 64-page ruling. I’ll drop some highlights below as I go thought it. This is a huge win!!!
Obviously the ATF is going to double down and fight like crazy to get this overturned at the 5th Circuit, so please consider donating to this case here: secure.anedot.com/national-found…
One thing to remember with this ruling: this is not a 2A Bruen-based case. This is about agency powers and the rule of law. And Judge O’Connor is spitting fire in defense of the democratic process. 🔥
Hard to believe that the ATF actually argued we don’t have standing because there’s no credible threat of prosecution. Thankfully, the judge was not having it.
Really appreciate O’Connor’s pointing this out. My staff has been playing whack-a-mole with the ATF agents harassing our members over FRTs, despite the injunction blocking the ATF from doing just that. We had to file a Notice of Noncompliance reporting it to the court.
🔥🔥🔥
Also huge. There have been a LOT of evidentiary and process shenanigans from the ATF on the FRT issue.
Judge O’Connor calls the ATF out on their effort to back-door Chevron deference into the case:
And finally: enter Cargill!! As we have argued all along, the facts are exactly the same whether you’re talking bump stocks or forced reset triggers. Judge O’Connor confirms unequivocally.
Now for the relief. Is there any more beautiful word in the language than “vacates”?
Judge O’Connor finishes off with a poignant ode to the rule of law and the Constitution put in place by the Founders. Beautifully said. 🇺🇸
Massive props to @dhillonlaw for their stellar representation in this case! 👏 Outstanding work defending gun rights and the rule of law!
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
A federal judge in Mississippi (5th Circuit) just ruled that the federal machine gun ban is inconsistent with the text, history, and tradition of the Second Amendment - while making it clear he disagrees with Heller and Bruen. 🧵
This is an as-applied challenge. The ruling dismisses a criminal charge of possession of a machine gun under the federal statute, because the government didn't meet its burden under the Bruen test.
This is a fascinating 12-page ruling. The judge here very much disagrees with the history, and tradition approach, but he faithfully applies every single aspect of the Bruen test and reaches the correct conclusion - one, ironically, the Supreme Court would NOT endorse.
Today SCOTUS denied cert to the Hawaii "spirit of Aloha" case due to its interlocutory posture. BUT we got a Thomas/Alito statement with some pretty interesting things - including that "Americans need not engage in empty formalities before they can invoke their constitutional rights." 🧵
The Hawaii Supreme Court had ruled that Wilson couldn't claim the unconstitutionality of the HI licensing scheme as a defense for not having a permit, because he didn't even apply for one. Trouble is...
The Supreme Court had already pointed out in Bruen that the Hawaii scheme was more or less the same as the New York scheme - meaning that it was a de facto ban.
Y'all. The Supreme Court just granted cert to Smith & Wesson v. Mexico, Mexico's attempt to shut down gun manufacturers by blaming them for their own cartel problem. This is HUGE.
Just by way of background, Mexico sued the entire gun industry in an attempt to destroy our Second Amendment. The district court judge threw out the case saying "PLCAA literally said you can't do this" - which was absolutely true.
That judge called our interpretation of the Second Amendment a "suicide pact" in oral arguments on our AWB lawsuit, so he's no friend to gun rights. That's how outrageous and frankly illegal Mexico's lawsuit is.
4th Circuit rules that ARs "fall outside the ambit of protection offered by the Second Amendment" because they're "military-style" and not suitable for self-defense. Outrageous - but this is on the merits and this means the SCOTUS cert appeal is next!!
To all you 2A supporters who think "shall not be infringed" is self-explanatory, the 4th Circuit says THIS about the Second Amendment: "This single sentence provides us with a lofty command, but little concrete guidance." OUTRAGEOUS.
Many congrats to @gunpolicy - if this is the case that delivers a slam-dunk SCOTUS opinion striking down AWBs, that's going to help all of our cases fighting this insidious policy. It can't come soon enough!
We just filed our response to Illinois' outrageous brief in our Supreme Court cert appeal challenging the IL so-called "assault weapons" ban. This was a fun one, so buckle up. 🧵
First, we emphasized that Illinois didn't even TRY to defend the fact that they've banned handguns. They know Heller said that handgun bans are unconstitutional - but somehow didn't bother to explain why theirs is different from the one struck down in Heller.
Next: The 7th Circuit spent most of their ruling explaining that they did TOO get it right in Friedman (their pre-Bruen gun ban precedent) because they talked about history and tradition.
Uh, no: Friedman just considered whether AR-15s were in common use at the time of the founding. "And Caetano unambiguously prohibited that exact historical inquiry."
Years ago, I was alone in my house all weekend. I made a two-hour grocery run on Saturday and came home to find my home ransacked. (Obviously they'd been watching my house to seen when I would leave.)
This was in suburban South Carolina. This sort of thing shouldn't happen in our safe, quiet area. But it did.
There's a sense of weird cognitive dissonance when you first see evidence of the unthinkable. I first noticed a light on in an unused room & tried to explain it away.
Then I went upstairs and saw papers scattered. My bedroom window was open and the bed was shoved over. My jewelry box was gone. At this point, the unthinkable was undeniable.