Important Briefs Filed In Peruta

Important Briefs Filed To Hold On To Victory In Lawsuit Protecting The Right To Bear Arms

In February 2014, the NRA and CRPA sponsored Peruta v. San Diego County case resulted in a monumental ruling by a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. That decision held that the San Diego County Sheriff’s policy of refusing to issue licenses to carry firearms in public unless an applicant could demonstrate a special need beyond general self-defense was an unconstitutional violation of the Second Amendment. Though Sheriff Gore accepted the ruling and publicly stated he would not seek to overturn it, on March 26, 2015, the Ninth Circuit itself took the rare step of ordering the case to be re-heard by an eleven-judge “en banc” panel, setting an argument date of June 16, 2015, at 3:30 pm in San Francisco, California.

In response, NRA recently filed a significant amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief supporting the Peruta plaintiffs and asking that the en banc panel uphold the three-judge panel decision, as did several other civil rights groups, State Governors, prominent law enforcement officials and organizations, and a large number of state Attorneys General. The specific groups and individuals who filed amicus briefs supporting plaintiffs, including links to their briefs, are as follows:

• The Governors of Texas, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and South Dakota    
• Attorneys General of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, & Wisconsin  
• International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association, Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, Law Enforcement Action Network, and Law Enforcement Alliance of America  
• Western States Sheriffs’ Association; Sheriff Adam Christianson; Sheriff Jon Lopey; Sheriff Margaret Mims; Sheriff Tom Bosenko; David Hencratt; Sheriff Steven Durfor; Sheriff Thomas Allman; Sheriff David Robinson; Sheriff Scott Jones; Sheriff Bruce Haney; Sheriff John D’Agostini; and Retired Sheriff Larry Jones
• Congress of Racial Equality, Inc.
• Pink Pistols, Women Against Gun Control, Inc., and Second Amendment Sisters
• New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs, Commonwealth Second Amendment, Gun Owners’ Action League, and Maryland State Rifle & Pistol Association
• The Madison Society, Inc.
• Gun Owners of America, Inc., Gun Owners Foundation, U.S. Justice Foundation, The Lincoln Institute for Research and Education, The Abraham Lincoln Foundation for Public Policy Research, Inc., Policy Analysis Center, Institute on the Constitution and Conservative Legal Defense and Education Fund

Such a strong and diverse showing of support of the Peruta plaintiffs demonstrates that Second Amendment rights cut across social lines and are desired to be enjoyed by all types of Americans, not just by those who have a good enough reason to exercise them according to a government official. The amount and the nature of the amicus briefs filed in support of overturning the three-judge panel’s pro-Second Amendment ruling, on the other hand, were underwhelming, to say the least:

• League of California Cities
• State of Hawaii
• Everytown for Gun Safety
• Intervenor, State of California State of California’s Motion for Leave to File Amicus Brief

If the eleven-judge en banc panel of the Ninth Circuit reverses the three-judge panel’s decision, Mr. Peruta, and the other plaintiffs, with continued support from the NRA, CRPA, and their legal teams, will petition the U.S. Supreme Court for review. If the en banc panel affirms the decision that requiring a special need to carry a firearm is an unconstitutional restriction, the anti-gun forces will likely do the same. So no matter what happens as a result of the rehearing en banc, Peruta will likely not end here, and will only end when the Supreme Court either declines to rehear it or rehearse it and renders a final decision.

For those who are interested in learning more about this critical Second Amendment case, NRA News has produced an outstanding video and Americas First Freedom magazine published an enlightening article about the case.