People's Republic of CA handgun roster being challenged in court (DC/Heller decision)

[Porsche-O-Phile]

(CALGUNS.NET) - CA. 03-11-2009.


Today in cooperation with Alan Gura and SAF, The Calguns Foundation (CGF) filed this complaint in the District of Columbia stating that the California Handgun Roster, as adopted by the District of Columbia, is unconstitutional.

There are three guns and issues at issue in this case.

1. An XD-45 Tactical Bi-Tone which couldn't be rostered because it's a different color than its rostered functional identical equivalents.

2. A Para P13 that was once rostered but fell off when Para Ordnance didn't pay the annual fee.

3. A Buntline style High Standard 9 shot .22 revolver - the same gun that the Supreme Court ordered DC to register in DC v. Heller.

Here is the press release that went over the wire minutes ago:

Quote:

SAF CHALLENGES D.C. HANDGUN BAN SCHEME


For Immediate Release:

Contact: Alan Gottlieb (425) 454*-7012

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation and three Washington, D.C. residents today filed a lawsuit challenging a regulation by District of Columbia city government that arbitrarily bans handguns based on a roster of “acceptable” handguns approved by the State of California.

The District is using this list despite a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court last summer that protects handguns “that ordinary people traditionally use for self-defense.” This scheme could eventually bar the ownership of any new handguns.

Attorney Alan Gura, representing the plaintiffs in this case, noted that District bureaucrats “told Tracy Ambeau Hanson her gun was the wrong color.” Americans are not limited to a government list of approved books, or approved religions, he said. A handgun protected by the Second Amendment doesn’t need to appear on any government-approved list either.

“The Springfield XD-45 is approved for sale in Washington,” Gura noted, “so long as it is black, green, or brown, but her bi-tone version is supposedly ‘unsafe’.”

Added SAF founder Alan Gottlieb, “The Supreme Court’s decision is crystal clear: Handguns that are used by people for self-defense and other lawful purposes cannot be banned, whether the city likes it or not. The city needs to accept the Second Amendment reality and stop this nonsense.”

Hanson, one of the individual plaintiffs in the case, wondered, “Do we really need a gun-fashion police? I just want to be able to exercise my Second Amendment rights without interference from the District government.”

Joining Hanson are Gillian and Paul St. Lawrence. Gillian St. Lawrence’s handgun would once have been allowed, until its listing expired, leaving her to observe, “I didn’t realize that my constitutional rights had an expiration date.”

Her husband sought to own the same type of handgun that the Supreme Court had ordered District officials to allow Dick Heller to possess. However, that particular model is no longer manufactured, and its maker is no longer available to process the handgun’s certification through the bureaucracy.

“The Supreme Court’s decision should really be the last word on whether I can own this model handgun,” said Mr. St. Lawrence.

“The so-called ‘safe’ gun list is just another gun-grabbing gimmick,” said Gura. “This is the same old, tried and failed D.C. handgun ban by another name. The city can’t get around the Second Amendment by declaring most normal guns ‘unsafe,’ and gradually shrinking the number of so-called ‘safe’ guns to zero.”

Valuable assistance is being provided by the CalGuns Foundation.

“CalGuns Foundation was saddened to see the California Handgun Roster adopted in D.C.,” CalGuns Chairman Gene Hoffman added. “Our state has a reputation as being a leader on many fronts. Unfortunately, this has included violating the rights of law abiding gun owners. After nearly a decade ofexperience with the California Handgun Roster, the CalGuns Foundation is uniquely able to assist in this case.”

The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 600,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.

-END-
Special thanks to the following Calgunners.

1. Brett Thomas/the_quark: Realizing that Heller's gun wasn't registerable in DC.

2. Ivan Pena/Ivanimal: Making a personal sacrifice to this case.

3. Two CGN'ers who wish to remain nameless: They want to remain "lowpro" but they were indispensable helping pull these guns together.


These things take a lot of work and a lot of money. The work on the CGF side is all volunteer. With that I would ask each and every one of you to consider a donation to the Calguns Foundation to help us offset expenses so far and moving forward. We plan to bring this to a victory and repatriate the decision to California.

And thus we begin the CGF offense.

[Jim Richards]

Good deal.

[on2wheels52]

"noted that District bureaucrats “told Tracy Ambeau Hanson her gun was the wrong color.”

The mind reels. Can they look you in the eye and say that?
Not to get off topic, but where is a list of CA approved firearms? I keep seeing "not approved for sale in CA" in various wholesale catalogs I receive in small print under different guns. For some I can detect a pattern but some are head-shakers.
Jim

[Rick Lee]

We put this release out. Alan Gottlieb is my client. I met with him a few weeks ago when I was in Seattle. First time I ever wore a sidearm to a client meeting was when his group held an event here in Phoenix last September and I attended. It was kinda weird. He's not a gun guy at all, just believes real strongly in the cause and has built a serious organization for it. He looked right at my cocked and locked 1911 when I shook his hand.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

It's on the DOJ website. Here's a link:

http://certguns.doj.ca.gov/

One of the things I hate most about this state. Simply draconian/fascist/ridiculous.

[Danimal16]

That list may not survive. And when it does get thrown out, I think every supporter should have a copy served enema style, paper cuts be dammed.

[on2wheels52]

I've looked through the list, I was trying to find to find some thing to 'hang my hat on', as we used to say. I failed. There's a lot more to the list than was on that website, perhaps was a condensed version.
Jim