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BELLEVUE, Wash. —— The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and its partners have filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court urging the court to grant certiorari in Duarte v. United States, a case challenging the federal ban on firearm possession by nonviolent felons.
SAF is joined in the filing by the National Rifle Association, Firearms Policy Coalition and FPC Action Foundation.
“The Ninth Circuit’s ruling defies Heller, Bruen, and Rahimi by upholding a lifetime disarmament of someone who committed nonviolent offenses, ignoring that our historical tradition only supports disarming ‘dangerous’ persons – those with a proven proclivity for violence or threats to government,” said SAF Director of Legal Research and Education Kostas Moros. “From colonial laws targeting violent threats to founding-era ratification proposals protecting ‘peaceable citizens,’ the shared common denominator has always been danger, and no precedent exists for stripping Second Amendment rights from nonviolent felons. We urge the Court to intervene and clarify that felon bans are ‘presumptively lawful’ only when applied to dangerous individuals.”
The brief also highlights that discriminatory laws cannot establish valid analogues under Bruen and Rahimi, and post-enactment history confirms peaceable persons retained their rights.
“This case highlights the need for clarification from the High Court as millions of Americans face the permanent loss of their Second Amendment rights for nonviolent offenses long after serving their sentences,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “Through amicus briefs and our more than 50 active lawsuits, we’re fighting to ensure lower courts faithfully apply Supreme Court precedents and protect the rights of peaceable citizens nationwide.”
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.
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