Anti-Gun Democrats Defeated, Again - NRA sues S.F. over firearms laws, again
- From: Patriot Games <Patriot@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 19 May 2009 16:36:19 -0400
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/19/BAK417MPKC.DTL
NRA sues S.F. over firearms laws
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
The National Rifle Association has filed suit against the city of San
Francisco, Mayor Gavin Newsom and Police Chief Heather Fong, taking
aim at city laws it contends violate the Second Amendment right to
bear arms.
The NRA filed the lawsuit in federal court Friday on behalf of six
residents and the San Francisco Veteran Police Officers Association.
It challenges three provisions of the city's police code that it says
interfere with their right "to defend themselves and others ... within
their own homes."
The provisions are:
-- A requirement that handguns in San Francisco homes be kept in a
locked cabinet or disabled with a trigger lock.
-- A ban on the sale of fragmenting bullets - a particularly deadly
type of ammunition.
-- A city ordinance that prohibits the discharge of firearms within
city limits. The law has been on the books since 1938, and is seldom,
if ever, enforced, according to city officials.
Neither the association nor the attorney who filed the suit for the
NRA could be reached for comment Monday afternoon.
The suit alleges that because of the city's failure to repeal the code
sections, the plaintiffs in the case "are subjected to irreparable
harm, in that they are unable to keep their handguns within their home
in a manner ready for immediate use to protect themselves and their
families from attack by violent intruders."
It seeks to have the laws invalidated.
Matt Dorsey, a spokesman for the city attorney's office, said the
NRA's real goal is not to strike down the specific city laws but to
win court rulings that expand the reach of the Second Amendment.
"It's more about pushing the envelope of the Second Amendment and
setting new precedents and policies," he said.
The trigger-lock requirement, signed into law in 2006, prevents
residents from having "operable" handguns at their disposal, according
to the suit. It argues that the U.S. Supreme Court, in the 2008 Heller
decision, struck down a similar trigger-lock requirement in Washington
as unconstitutional because it made it impractical for residents to
protect themselves.
San Francisco's trigger-lock restriction combined with a fragmenting
bullet ban that precludes them from loading their weapons with
"suitable ammunition," the suit says, "makes it impossible for city
residents to use their handguns for the core lawful purpose of
self-defense, particularly in urgent, life-threatening situations."
Dorsey, who accused the NRA of engaging in a nationwide suit-filing
spree since the Supreme Court ruling, said San Francisco expects to
prevail.
"I don't believe anything in federal law invalidates the provisions of
the San Francisco ordinances," he said.
.
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