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CO: Eagle County convictions reversed for prosecutors' misconduct
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During closing arguments, the prosecution contended Fergus-Jean could not be acting in self-defense because he had options to remove himself from the encounter prior to using deadly force. However, a three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals agreed with the defense that Colorado law unambiguously imposes no duty to retreat, and the trial judge should not have permitted prosecutors to say otherwise.
"While the prosecutor did not use the phrase 'failure to retreat,' the prosecutor’s argument that Fergus-Jean failed to leave the apartment, hide in his room, call the police, or scream for help suggested that Fergus-Jean failed to retreat or had a duty to retreat," wrote Judge Pax L. Moultrie in the March 7 opinion. |
CT: Connecticut veteran asks Second Circuit to revive suit over handgun carry laws in state parks
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A Connecticut veteran asked the Second Circuit on Wednesday to give new life to his lawsuit challenging handgun carrying regulations in state parks.
David Nastri, as described on his lawyer’s website, is a “combat veteran, a financial advisor, an attorney, a kidney donor and an active participant in his community.” In early 2023, Nastri became a gun rights advocate as well when he sued Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Katie Dykes over a law that bans carrying handguns for self-defense in state parks. |
‘Not A Gun Expert’: Biden Judicial Nominee Self-Destructs When John Kennedy Asks Her To Define ‘Assault Weapon’
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United States District Judge Nancy Maldonado of the Northern District of Illinois struggled to respond when asked by Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana to define the term “assault weapons” during a Wednesday confirmation hearing.
Maldonado, nominated by President Joe Biden for a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, signed a brief defending a ban on “assault weapons” that was challenged in Illinois state courts in the 2010s, according to vettingproject.org. Kennedy cited from her writings when asking her if she could define what an “assault weapon” was. |
IL: Court Rules in Favor of Gun Ownership for Undocumented Immigrants
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A recent court decision has reignited the debate over the Second Amendment and its application to undocumented immigrants, with a federal judge in Illinois dismissing gun charges against Heriberto Carbajal-Flores.
Ed.: This has been a lively topic from the 'I support the 2A, but...' crowd. For your consideration: If the government has the power to take away your 2A rights based on 'criminality', real or alleged, then they will simply lower the bar until every peaceable crime is included, and everyone is disarmed. Remember, it wasn't until 1968 that felons lost their 2A rights. I'd suggest that we don't need to hamstring the 2A to solve illegal immigration. |
NY: Appeals court upholds NY red flag law against Second Amendment challenge
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This "historical analogue" test has upended the way states can regulate firearms, sowing doubt about whether laws that protect the public from gun violence would continue to stand. In one case, one of New York's top judges has already called for a key state gun law to be stricken on constitutional grounds because of the Supreme Court's ruling.
But the Second Department's decision, written by Associate Justice Betsy Barros, pointed to the Supreme Court's new test in observing that New York's red-flag law "is consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation in keeping dangerous individuals from carrying guns." |
PA: Warren County DA seeks preliminary injunction in lawsuit over guns and medical marijuana
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The Warren County district attorney wants a judge in federal court in Erie to rule sooner rather than later in his potentially precedent-setting case that seeks to upend federal law over gun possession and the use of medical marijuana.
Rob Greene is seeking a preliminary injunction that would halt a federal policy that prohibits him from having a firearm as long as he has a Pennsylvania medical marijuana card.
Greene wants a preliminary injunction in place while Pittsburgh-based U.S. District Judge Cathy Bissoon considers the lawsuit that Greene and the Washington state-based Second Amendment Foundation filed in January in U.S. District Court in Erie. |
Columbia: Amid crime surge, vendors in Bogota turn to hired guns
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On the streets of a Bogota neighborhood where a businessman was killed for refusing to pay protection money, retired soldiers sporting weapons and camouflage gear keep a watchful eye on every movement.
Similar "self-defense" groups have sprung up all over Colombia's capital, a city of some eight million people that has experienced a surge in robberies and killings since the beginning of the year.
As fear has risen in step with crime, residents and business owners are taking matters into their own hands in a country with low levels of trust in the authorities. |
‘Kill or Be Killed’ series premiere: Watch ‘Grandma’s Gun’ for free
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“Kill or Be Killed,” a new series on Oxygen, premieres tonight, Saturday, March 2 at 9 p.m. Eastern. The series looks deep into brutal murders where the killer claims self-defense.
Were they truly acting in self-defense or are they trying to cover up a heinous crime?
Watch the new series for free on streaming services including FuboTV and DirecTV Stream. Sling has promotional offers for first-time users of the platform.
On tonight’s episode, a teenager calls 911 and claims his grandmother shot him, but investigators uncover drugs and family conflicts spanning a generational divide, leaving a jury questioning who to believe, FuboTV says.
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NJ: NJ Homeowner Shoots Intruder, Now Faces Nation’s Toughest Self-Defense Laws
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A Trenton, New Jersey, homeowner faced a harrowing event late Sunday night when a man with a hammer broke into his house forcing him to shoot the man in self-defense. Now he potentially faces another larger and more protracted harrowing event should he be forced to navigate New Jersey’s legal system and the state’s strict self-defense laws. Fortunately, he was in his home where the law, even for New Jersey, seems to be fairly clear cut. |
CA: Oral Arguments Held in Duncan v. Bonta
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Today in San Francisco, oral arguments were held in Duncan v. Bonta, the next step in CRPA’s challenge to the state’s ban on buying, selling, and transferring magazines holding more than 10 rounds.
The court focused heavily on what is an “arm” and whether “arms in common use” are protected because they are not “dangerous and unusual” as described in Heller. Our CRPA attorneys noted that the Heller court, by indicating that an arm is in “common use”, quenched the argument that they are “dangerous and unusual”, which would make them not protected by the Second Amendment. |
MD: 4th Circuit weighs constitutionality of Maryland’s ban on assault-style weapons
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The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals probed the boundaries of the Second Amendment at oral arguments Wednesday over Maryland’s ban on assault-style weapons, the first of two major gun cases the judges will consider en banc this week.
In arguments peppered with questions from the panel, lawyers for the state and for gun rights advocates debated whether the ban has a historical analogue and whether the weapons covered under the law, including AR-15s, are in common use. |
Time to End the Federal Medical Marijuana & Gun Ban
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Attorneys representing the Second Amendment Foundation and two individual plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit challenging the federal ban on gun ownership by medical marijuana users have filed a brief supporting their motion for a preliminary injunction in the case.
The brief was filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. SAF is joined by Warren County, Pa., District Attorney Robert Greene, who has served in that office since 2013 and currently possesses a medical marijuana ID card under Pennsylvania law and James Irey, a veteran who was recommended medical marijuana but has refrained from obtaining a card as it would deny his ability to exercise his Second Amendment rights. |
IL: Illinois judge rules illegal migrants can carry guns
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A federal judge in Illinois earlier this month ruled that a Mexican man who was living in the U.S. illegally had a constitutional right to own a firearm for self-defense.
In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman dismissed charges against Heriberto Carbajal-Flores, who was arrested in 2020 for violating a federal law that prohibits undocumented immigrants from possessing guns.
“Carbajal-Flores contends that he received and used the handgun solely for self-protection and protection of property during a time of documented civil unrest in the Spring of 2020,” the Northern District of Illinois judge wrote in her ruling.
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Biden Decries Criminalization of Cannabis Consumers Even As He Insists They Have No Second Amendment Rights
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In his State of the Union address this month, President Joe Biden declared that "no one should be jailed for simply using" marijuana or "have it on their record." He amplified that message on X (formerly Twitter) that night, saying, "No one should be jailed just for using or possessing marijuana." Biden said those things on the same day that federal prosecutors in North Carolina filed a brief defending the federal ban on gun possession by cannabis consumers, whom they likened to "lunatics" and violent felons. |
IL: Another Judge Says Illegal Immigrants Have Second Amendment Rights
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In a decision earlier this month in U.S. v. Carbajal-Flores from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman concluded that you can't always and under every circumstance prohibit people in the country illegally from legally possessing weapons.
The factual background of the prosecution of Heriberto Carbajal-Flores, as explained in Judge Coleman's decision: "On June 1, 2020, Carbajal-Flores possessed a handgun in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. |
Federal Courts Uphold Limits on Guns but Not Ammo
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Two recent decisions from federal courts on opposite sides of the country illustrate the current widespread legal ambiguity surrounding constitutional limits on gun control. On the West Coast, a court found that a law limiting gun purchasers to only one new firearm each month was impermissible under the Constitution in Nguyen v. Bonta. Meanwhile, on the East Coast, a federal appeals court ruled in Ocean State Tactical v. Rhode Island that a law banning magazines loaded with more than ten rounds of ammunition would be allowed. |
MD: Full 4th Circuit takes on Maryland gun case that prompted Locke brief
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The full 15-member 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals displayed clear divisions Wednesday when considering Maryland’s law banning the AR-15 rifle and other guns described as assault weapons.
Meeting in a rare “en banc” hearing, the full court spent nearly 90 minutes discussing Bianchi v. Brown. It’s a case that prompted a friend-of-the-court brief from the John Locke Foundation this month at the nation’s highest court.
Questions from the bench suggested that some judges are ready to uphold Maryland’s weapons ban. Others prefer to send the case back to a trial court to address unresolved issues. One key issue is whether the banned weapons are considered “in common use.” |
MD: ‘Where Does It Stop’: 4th Circuit Probes 2nd Amendment Test in Assault Weapons Ban Case
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Judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on Wednesday questioned the Second Amendment test to apply in a challenge to Maryland’s ban on assault-style weapons, with some concerned about the real-world implications of the standard pushed by gun rights groups challenging the state law.
The gun rights organizations argue that the Fourth Circuit’s 2017 decision upholding the constitutionality of the Firearm Safety Act should be overturned following the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 2022 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. |
NH: Pro-gun group: Adding mental health records to NH do-not-sell list ‘insane,’ ‘crazy’
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The gun rights coalition instead argues that people hospitalized due to mental illness and dangerousness should be detained in the hospital until they are well. Upon release, it says, they should not be kept from buying a gun.
“If these people are so violent that they need to be disarmed, why are they released at all?” reads the flyer, which was sent to some House Republicans and their constituents. On the opposite side, it says: “Crazy is as crazy does.”
Rep. Terry Roy, a Deerfield Republican who co-sponsored HB 1711 with House Democratic Rep. David Meuse of Portsmouth, received the flyer, as did his constituents. |
TX: Rep. Tony Gonzales to face ‘the AK Guy’ Brandon Herrera in Republican runoff
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Republican Congressman Tony Gonzales was pushed into a runoff against social media influencer and Second Amendment advocate Brandon Herrera on election day, earning 45.1% of the vote to Herrera’s 24.7%. Voters will head back to the polls in May to decide who will face Democratic nominee Santos Limon in the general election.
House District 23 — which includes the Big Bend — spans just over 800 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border from western San Antonio to the eastern fringes of El Paso. The district is massive only in terms of land acreage; it has one of the lowest population densities of any congressional districts nationwide.
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SC: Permitless open carry becomes legal in South Carolina
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Gov. Henry McMaster (R-SC) held a bill signing ceremony Tuesday to celebrate a new South Carolina law legalizing permitless open carry.
The governor signed the bill into law two weeks ago when it landed on his desk. Any adult who can legally own a gun can now carry it without a permit.
“With my signature, South Carolina is now the 29th state in the country with constitutional carry. This bill expands the Second Amendment rights of our law-abiding citizens and will keep violent criminals behind bars with increased penalties for illegal gun use and possession,” McMaster posted on X when he signed the legislation on March 7. |
MD: Dem Maryland AG Anthony Brown Asks Appeals Court To Reconsider Handgun Case
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Democratic Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown requested a new hearing on Tuesday for a recent case that ruled the state's gun laws to be unconstitutionally restrictive.
In late November, three judges in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that Maryland's handgun licensing laws — which required buyers to submit their fingerprints for a background check and to take a four-hour firearms safety course — violated the Second Amendment.
"The Second Amendment does not prohibit states from enacting common-sense gun laws like Maryland's handgun licensing law," Brown said in a statement. "My office will continue to defend laws that are designed to protect Marylanders from gun violence." |
Republican Study Committee Unveils 2025 Budget Proposal Section Aimed At Rolling Back Biden’s Gun Agenda
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The RSC slams the Biden administration for what it views as a “crusade to infringe on Americans’ right to bear arms,” citing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF’s) gun registry and the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the budget proposal states. The proposal includes several provisions from Republican Reps. Michael Cloud of Texas, Paul Gosar of Arizona, Andrew Clyde of Georgia, Richard Hudson of North Carolina, Jeff Duncan of South Carolina and Bob Good of Virginia that would strengthen firearm protections. |
20 Tweets and Reactions to the Ongoing Gun Bro Standoff
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The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun … so long as they’re not an immigrant.
Several gun-slinging dudebros began second-guessing the age-old slogan after an Illinois judge ruled that the Second Amendment does, in fact, apply to undocumented noncitizens, ...
Yet instead of rejoicing that the roughly 10.5 million undocumented immigrants living in America can enjoy the right to bear arms, the decision, the ruling sent several gun rights advocates into a social media spiral.
From crying gun-bros to snide leftists, here are 20 of the best memes and reactions to this ruling. |
Making a Case for True Natural Rights for All in Second Amendment Argument
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A recent federal court ruling has stirred up controversy. While that happens all the time, this one is special because it’s got the gun rights community divided. The big rub? The question of whether people who entered the country illegally can lawfully possess a gun. Some conservatives and libertarians/liberals are on the side of the defendant, while others are angry about it, with some even thinking it’s part of a plot to create an army of “invaders”.
South Dakota’s Governor Kristi Noem is among those who aren’t happy about it: |
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