It’s been heartening in recent months to see the leading gun-rights organizations working together on several occasions in an attempt to save the Second Amendment, rather than jockeying for position and competing with one another. In fact, I believe such cooperation could be a key to the future of our right to keep and bear arms.
In the latest example of that cooperation, three top gun-rights groups have collaborated to file a brief with the Supreme Court of the United States in a critical lawsuit that seeks to end the lifetime ban on gun ownership and possession for those convicted of nonviolent crimes in the past.
The case revolves around Selim Zherka, who in 2015 pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to make a false statement to a bank and for filing a false federal income tax return. Since that non-violent conviction for financial misconduct, Zherka has been unable to possess firearms to protect himself or his family.
On October 9, the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC), National Rifle Association (NRA), FPC Action Foundation (FPCAF) and Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), in the case Zherka v. Bondi, filed the SCOTUS brief urging the Court to strike down the federal ban that permanently disarms peaceable Americans for nonviolent offenses.
In the brief, the groups argued that there “is no tradition of disarming peaceable citizens.” That precedent, of course, most be provable under the second standard set forth by the Supreme Court in the 2022 Bruen decision.
“Historically, nonviolent criminals—including nonviolent felons—who did not demonstrate a propensity for violence retained the ability to exercise their right to keep and bear arms,” the brief stated. “… some laws expressly allowed or even required them to keep and bear arms. Certiorari should be granted to establish that the Second Amendment forbids the disarmament of peaceable Americans.”
The brief further explained how the laws the government intends to use for establishing a historical precedent were rooted in racism or other prejudice.
“Every ban on firearms possession in the colonial era was discriminatory—bans applied to Blacks, American Indians, Catholics, Puritans, and Antinomians,” the brief argued. “But both Bruen and United States v. Rahimi make clear that discriminatory laws cannot establish a historical tradition.”
Brandon Combs, FPC president, said in a news release announcing the filing that the law is blatantly unconstitutional and must be dealt with accordingly.
“The government has no authority to forever strip people of their constitutional rights for a nonviolent offense,” Combs said. “That dangerous notion turns guaranteed freedoms into government-granted privileges. The Supreme Court must take this case and affirm once and for all that peaceable Americans have an inviolable right to keep and bear arms.”
Kostas Moros, SAF director of legal research and education, said his organization was involved in the brief filing because it’s time for the court to end the lifetime prohibition of firearms possession for those convicted of non-violent crimes.
“As we note in our brief, America’s tradition of firearm regulation provides support for prohibiting only dangerous people from owning firearms, Moros said in an SAF news release. “Mr. Zherka’s convictions do not align with the nation’s history and tradition of disenfranchising individuals convicted of non-violent felonies.”
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