SAF Sues Eric Holder Over Gun Rights of Non-Resident American Citizens
Monday, March 30, 2009
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BELLEVUE, Wash., March 30, 2009 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ ----The Second Amendment Foundation has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against Attorney General Eric Holder, seeking an injunction against enforcement of a federal law that makes it impossible for American citizens who reside outside the United States to purchase firearms while they are in this country.

SAF is joined by two natural-born citizens, Maxwell Hodgkins and Stephen Dearth, who have been denied the opportunity to buy firearms because they do not currently reside in the United States. Hodgkins currently lives in the United Kingdom, and Dearth is a resident of Canada.

The lawsuit alleges that Holder, as attorney general, is enforcing unconstitutional laws that prevent citizens like Hodgkins and Dearth from exercising their Second Amendment rights. The complaint also asserts that enforcement of the federal gun laws that prevent such citizens from purchasing firearms when they visit the U.S. violates their right of equal protection under the Fifth Amendment. The plaintiffs are represented by Virginia attorney Alan Gura, who successfully argued the Heller case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

"This is what happens when anti-gunners rush to pass a restrictive gun law that ignores the constitutional rights of law-abiding American citizens who happen to be living abroad," said SAF founder Alan Gottlieb. "Honest Americans who live in other countries for a variety of reasons should not be denied their Second or Fifth Amendment rights when they return to American soil. Hodgkins and Dearth, and many others just like them, are victims of anti-gun rights zeal.

"Such citizens have every right to obtain and own firearms for a variety of reasons, whether to hunt, or for personal protection, target shooting or competition," he continued. "Hodgkins, Dearth and other non-resident citizens want to keep their firearms here for use when they come home. However, current federal law makes it impossible for them to exercise their rights like any other citizen. It is fundamentally wrong to penalize American citizens for living overseas."

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.

SOURCE Second Amendment Foundation

I like the SAF and all. But how many people are there in this class? Seems like a lot of resources for very few returns. Or is this a stepping stone case. That this is step b in a "if a and b, then C must also be true."?

Or is this a stepping stone case. That this is step b in a "if a and b, then C must also be true."?

I like the SAF and all. But how many people are there in this class?

Someone PM'd me the back ground and its a stepping stone case, THats cool, I understand now the reason for it.

I was not doubting that it had a good reason, I just was not seeing it on review, now that I see it, it I should have seen it, it makes very good sense.