N. Carolina Lets Emergency Powers Ruling Stand, Adding Another SAF 2A Victory

BELLEVUE, Wash., May 8, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- North Carolina's failure to appeal a federal judge's ruling that struck down the state's emergency power to ban firearms and ammunition outside the home during a declared emergency adds one more Second Amendment victory to the court record being established by the Second Amendment Foundation.

"When the anti-gun lobby claims that courts have not struck down any laws on Second Amendment grounds," noted SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb, "they deliberately ignore the fact that the District of Columbia's handgun ban was overturned. Likewise, Chicago's ban was stricken by McDonald v. City of Chicago, as was the city's ban on gun ranges. Maryland's draconian regulations on concealed carry were struck down, and so was the Massachusetts ban on firearms ownership by legal alien residents. Part of Omaha's registration law was overturned, and now North Carolina's emergency powers gun ban has fallen.

"All but one of those cases," he added, "were filed by SAF, and in the Heller case against Washington, D.C.s ban, SAF filed an important amicus brief."

Gottlieb said North Carolina's decision not to appeal their loss, "frees the foundation to file more legal actions against cities and states that still have laws on the books that violate our constitutional rights." There are now at least six federal court victories to SAF's credit, knocking down laws that infringed on Second Amendment rights, and Gottlieb is confident more are coming.

"The North Carolina case should send a message to other states and municipalities with similar emergency powers laws that violate civil rights that they should remove those restrictions immediately," he stated.

"I want to thank our plaintiffs, our legal team, our staff and in particular, our members and donors who have made all of these victories possible," Gottlieb said. "Three of these victories, including Bateman v. Purdue in North Carolina, affirm that the Second Amendment doesn't stop at your front door, like the gun prohibition lobby claims.

"Winning firearms freedom one lawsuit at a time is a long, slow and expensive process, but SAF is committed to it," he concluded.

The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation's oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms.  Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 650,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control. 

SOURCE Second Amendment Foundation