Showing posts with label Gun Control. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gun Control. Show all posts

Monday, November 8

English Law Effects US Gun Control



IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES
Image caption, Guns did not exist in Europe when the statute was passed


A medieval English law dating back nearly seven centuries is now at the heart of the most important US Supreme Court gun case in a decade.

The case - which stems from a New York legal battle - challenges a state law that requires that gun users who want a concealed carry permit first prove they have a valid reason.

To help them determine how broad the rights of America's many gun owners go, the country's nine supreme court judges are also looking back to the 1328 Statute of Northampton, which dates back to the reign of Edward III.

Here's what we know.

What's the case?
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of the New York Rifle and Pistol Association v Bruen, which revolves around New York's laws governing concealed carry licenses.

The laws require that residents who want a license to carry a concealed pistol must prove they have "proper cause" for it and that they face "a special or unique" level of danger.

The plaintiffs in the case, Robert Nash and Brandon Koch, applied for a concealed carry permit but were denied, although they were given licenses that allow them to carry guns for recreational purposes such as hunting and target shooting.

With the support of the New York Rifle and Pistol Association - which is affiliated with the National Rifle Association (NRA) - in 2018 Mr Nash and Mr Koch filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of New York's "proper cause" requirement and handgun regulations.

Their case was dismissed by a federal court in New York, a decision that was affirmed by an appeals court. This, in turn, led the Supreme Court to hear the case.  READ MORE...

Thursday, August 26

Biden's Gun Regulations

20 GOP states push back against Biden gun regulations
Attorneys general say Biden's proposed gun parts rule is unconstitutional

Attorneys general of 20 states are fighting back against an "unconstitutional" Biden administration proposal to regulate gun parts.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich led the 20-state coalition in authoring formal comments urging the rejection of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) proposed new rule on firearms parts that followed President Biden's effort to regulate so-called ghost guns.

"Private individuals and businesses have the right to assemble firearms for their own use — a fact borne out in early American history and expressly recognized by the Gun Control Act," Morrisey said in a statement. "The Second Amendment is a core tenant of our Constitution, and this regulation would treat the activity of assembling firearm parts as a problem to be stamped out, rather than a right and tradition to be respected."

Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland earlier this year proposed further regulations of ghost guns to stem gun violence in America. Ghost guns are homemade firearms that aren't marked with a commercial serial number because such parts have been exempt from federal laws.

The Biden administration effort aims to crack down on individuals buying partially-finished frames and receivers, referred to as "80% receivers," without undergoing background checks or recordkeeping practices with traditional commercial gun sales. Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun-control group, has argued that the lack of regulation of ghost guns is the fastest-growing gun safety problem in America.

But the GOP-led states contend that federal law authorizes the ATF to regulate complete firearms and receivers, not the individual parts of an incomplete receiver, and new regulations could put certain gun parts manufacturers out of business. READ MORE