The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) has filed an amicus brief with the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania in support of defendant SIG SAUER's motion for reconsideration in Hall v. Sig Sauer, Inc., a product liability case in which plaintiffs seek to force disclosure of gun owners' identities without their consent.
SIG SAUER was ordered to divulge the identities of some of its customers to the Plaintiffs in the case as part of the discovery process and seeks reconsideration of that order. SAF is joined in the brief by the National Rifle Association.
"The Second Amendment has always protected not just the right to keep and bear arms, but the privacy necessary to exercise that right without fear of government-compelled exposure or social ostracism," said SAF Director of Legal Research and Education Kostas Moros. "Our history and tradition confirm that Americans reasonably expect their status as gun owners to remain private. Forcing a manufacturer to divulge customer identities in civil litigation – without consent or adequate safeguards – violates that long-standing expectation and infringes the right itself. We urge the Court to reconsider and protect gun owners' privacy."
This dispute is important to SAF as it threatens the privacy of law-abiding Americans who contact manufacturers for assistance with their firearms, possibly chilling them from seeking help with potential safety issues and exposing them to unwanted scrutiny. Moreover, it presented an excellent opportunity to assist in the development of privacy in gun ownership as an aspect of the Second Amendment right.
"We fought this same issue recently in our own lawsuits, and just like we argued in those cases, there is absolutely no need to hand over a list of gun owners' names to the government," said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. "SAF is committed to ensuring that exercising this fundamental right does not come at the cost of forced disclosure to third parties. This brief defends the privacy that has always been inherent in the right to keep and bear arms."
For more information visit SAF.org.
The Second Amendment Foundation (saf.org) is the nation's oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group dedicated to safeguarding and promoting the fundamental rights of individuals enshrined in the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution. SAF engages in aggressive legal action to ensure the principles of armed self-defense, personal liberty, and the ownership of arms are defended, secured, and restored. Through public education initiatives, SAF teaches the importance of the Second Amendment to promote a society that values and exercises the right to keep and bear arms.