Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott Files Friend of the Court

[OnTexasTime]

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Monday, February 11, 2008
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Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott Files Friend of the Court Brief in Washington, D C Gun Ban case


Texas, 30 states urge high court to uphold individual gun ownership rights



AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court Monday defending Americans’ constitutional right to keep and bear arms. Writing on behalf of 31 states, Attorney General Abbott urged the Supreme Court to uphold a federal appeals court decision striking down Washington D.C.’s handgun ban. In District of Columbia v. Heller, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit struck down the District’s handgun ban as unconstitutional.

“The United States Constitution protects the right to keep and bear arms,� Attorney General Abbott said. “By banning all handguns while rendering rifles and shotguns inoperable, the District of Columbia unconstitutionally prohibits citizens in the District from owning operational firearms. We respectfully urge the Supreme Court to uphold the appeals court decision striking down Washington D.C.’s firearms ban.�

In 1976, the Washington, D.C. City Council passed an ordinance banning all handguns and requiring that rifles and shotguns be disassembled or encumbered by trigger locks at all times. Washington D.C. Special Police Officer Dick Heller, who carries a handgun while working at the Federal Justice Center, sued the city after it denied his application to keep a handgun at his private residence.

A federal district court disagreed with Heller, who appealed his case to the federal court of appeals with jurisdiction over the District of Columbia. At that stage of the litigation, Attorney General Abbott defended individuals’ right to bear arms in a ‘friend of the court’ brief submitted on behalf of Texas and 12 other states. In an opinion by Judge Lawrence Silberman, the federal appeals court held that the District’s gun ban violated the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Supreme Court, which will hear District of Columbia v. Heller in March, has not considered a Second Amendment case since 1939.

Texas and a bipartisan group of 30 state attorneys general argue that the District of Columbia violates the Second Amendment by banning all handguns in D.C. residents’ private homes. According to the state attorneys general, the Second Amendment protects individuals’ right to keep and bear arms. The Second Amendment’s text explicitly protects “the right of the people,� a phrase that also appears in the First, Fourth, Ninth and Tenth Amendments describing personal, individual rights.

Attorney General Abbott and the other state attorneys general argue that “because the Second Amendment’s text recognizes a ‘right,’ not a ‘power,’ and guarantees that right to ‘the people’ and not ‘the States,’ it necessarily secures an individual right to keep and bear arms.� Thus, Texas argues that the “collective rights� theory is unfaithful to the Constitution and undermines Americans’ individual rights.

Texas’ brief also notes that, under the Second Amendment, gun ownership is not limited to citizens who participate in military exercises. The state argues that citizens have the right to “… ‘wear, bear, or carry’ arms, regardless of whether they are engaged in military activity connected with a state militia.� By requiring that rifles and shotguns in residents’ private residences be either disassembled or encumbered by a trigger lock, the District’s ordinance rendered the firearms inoperable. Thus, Attorney General Abbott argues the city violated its residents’ constitutionally protected right to bear arms.

Notably, every state that signed the brief, including Texas, argues that some firearms regulations are both permissible. For example, the vast majority of states support prohibiting violent felons from owning guns. All of the joining states, however, are likewise united in the belief that the Second Amendment protects the individual right to keep and bear arms.

[anygunanywhere]

You have to be proud when you look at the list of briefs, and see that Suzanna Hupp, Kay Hutchison, and Greg Abbott are leading the charge in filing briefs for our 2A rights.

There are lots of trashing of the briefs, but in all sincerity, even with my belief on giving no quarter, I am truly humbled by what I read in those papers. I think we are witnessing history in the making and that the impact will be profound.

The decision will be within the questions laid down by the justices, but the implications will be huge.

7-2 in favor of individual right. Appellate ruling upheld.

God Bless Texas.

Anygunanywhere

[Nazrat]

Yeah, boss.

[ELB]

Here are maps of the 31 states that supported Heller via the Texas Attorney General's brief ( ), the five states plus Puerto Rico that supported D.C. (boo ), and the 14 states that are sitting on the sidelines (also boo ). Very interesting.

http://www.concurringopinions.com/archi ... sta_1.html

I am a bit surprised to see that Arizona is not part of the Texas A.G.'s brief...

elb

[jimlongley]

Interesting that two of the entities that are arguing that "States Rights" should be protected are not states.

MA is a Commonwealth, even if they have a star on the flag, and PR is not a state in a similar respect as D.C.

And there are other amici, on their side, who argue, by extension, that MA and PR should be subject to different rules because they are not "States."

In a true dog fight, it's every dog for themselves, and that is what this appears to be shaping up as. We have both pro-2A and anti amici who are at cross purposes to others on their own sides. I wonder which ones will get to claim the victory.

[Liko81]

Interesting that the AG should be this pro-gun while Texas is one of only 6 states that categorically prohibit open carry in public.

[anygunanywhere]

Interesting that the AG should be this pro-gun while Texas is one of only 6 states that categorically prohibit open carry in public.

I honestly think with the current climate we can get this passed in the next legislative session. When Heller is successful we will have more to back us up!!!!!

Now......back on topic!

Anygun

[frankie_the_yankee]

God Bless Texas!

I just read Greg Abbott's brief. What a contrast to the lame nonsense put together by Janet Reno and her cohorts. If I were a SCOTUS justice, I would feel insulted when reading Reno's brief.

I see a big win coming for us.

Strict Scrutiny seems to be within reach.



I love Texas! What a great state! I am so proud to see our Attorney General playing such a prominent role in this case.



I wasn't born here, but as the saying goes, I got here as soon as I could.