Last year was a banner year for the Second Amendment Foundation as the organization celebrated victories in two cases and 13 procedural wins in support of our right to keep and bear arms! During 2024, SAF scored victories against “sensitive places” laws, “assault weapons” bans and young-adult carry restrictions, to name a few.
Case wins:
- Hunter v. Cortland Housing Authority: Challenge to Cortland Housing Authority's lease which prohibited weapons on the premises and inside the homes of tenants. SAF secured a permanent injunction to secure residents’ Second Amendment rights, forced the housing authority to remove the onerous firearms ban provision from its lease agreement, and recovered a significant award of attorneys’ fees.
- Linton v. Bonta: Challenge to California law that permanently denied the Second Amendment rights of individuals who had felony convictions vacated, set aside, or dismissed and their firearms rights restored in other jurisdictions. SAF secured a win on summary judgment, vindicating plaintiffs’ rights to possess firearms in California.
SAF Files Amicus Brief with SCOTUS in Mexico Lawsuit
The Second Amendment Foundation filed an important amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the right to keep and bear arms in Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc., et.al., v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos, which would also have far reaching implications for the firearms industry. The Mexican government has sought billions of dollars in damages from Smith & Wesson and other industry members attempting to hold the firearms industry liable for the country’s scourge of drug cartel violence. SAF’s brief explained the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act was passed by Congress to stop precisely this sort of bad-faith litigation aimed at bankrupting the American firearms industry – and that without a viable commercial market, The People’s rights to keep and bear arms is seriously imperiled.
In a press release distributed to the media, SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut said: “Allowing Mexico to pierce the Protection in Lawful Commerce of Arms Act would result in foreign countries dictating the types of arms that should be commercially available to Americans. These types of lawsuits, like the one brought by Mexico, are designed with one purpose in mind – to bankrupt the firearms industry and drive it out of existence. Such a result is untenable and directly impacts the right to keep and bear arms. SAF will continue to assert itself in matters that impact American’s ability to acquire arms to exercise their Second Amendment rights.”
SAF Members Eligible for California Non-Resident Carry Permits
A California district court has ruled that members of the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and its partner organizations in the case can soon apply for a non-resident carry permit in California.
The United States District Court for the Central District of California issued a preliminary injunction in CRPA v. LASD, SAF’s legal challenge to the refusal of California officials to issue non-resident carry permits. SAF is joined in the case by the California Rifle & Pistol Association, Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners Foundation, Gun Owners of California, and several private citizens.
The injunction requires California to accept permit applications from any United States resident outside the state who is a member of SAF or its partner organizations and not prohibited from possessing firearms. The order takes effect 90 days from the Jan. 23 ruling.
SAF Win in Challenge of Young-Adult Purchase Ban
The Second Amendment Foundation has scored an important victory in its challenge of a federal prohibition on handgun sales to young adults with a unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse a lower court decision and remand the case back for further action.
SAF is joined in the case by the Firearms Policy Coalition, Louisiana Shooting Association and two private citizens, Emily Naquin and Caleb Reese, for whom the case is named. The case is known as Reese v. ATF.
Writing for the court, Circuit Judge Edith Hollan Jones stated, “Ultimately, the text of the Second Amendment includes eighteen-to-twenty-year-old individuals among ‘the people’ whose right to keep and bear arms is protected. The federal government has presented scant evidence that eighteen-to-twenty-year-olds’ firearm rights during the founding-era were restricted in a similar manner to the contemporary federal handgun purchase ban, and its 19th century evidence ‘cannot provide much insight into the meaning of the Second Amendment when it contradicts earlier evidence.’ In sum, 18 U.S.C. §§ 992(b)(1), (c)(1) and their attendant regulations are unconstitutional in light of our Nation’s historic tradition of firearm regulation. We REVERSE the district court’s judgment and REMAND for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”
Should you have any questions or need more information, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with SAF Senior Vice President/Vice President of Development Lauren Hill at lhill@saf.org. If you would like more detailed information on any of SAF’s more than 55 active cases, visit saf.org where all current cases are listed under the Legal Action section.
Second Amendment Foundation
Since its inception in 1974, SAF has been involved in more than 260 legal cases across the nation and has litigated – and won – cases at the highest levels of the American judicial system. The organization now has 59 active cases across the U.S., all with the goal of protecting our right as Americans to keep and bear arms.