National Association for Gun Rights launches coordinated lawsuits to overturn unconstitutional gun controls

Group files lawsuits in half of the nation’s federal appellate circuits to strike down state and local gun bans, putting an end to bans throughout the country

News Release from National Association for Gun Rights, September 8th, 2022

Washington, D.C. – Today, the National Association for Gun Rights’ legal arm simultaneously filed five lawsuits in four separate federal appellate circuits to challenge multiple state and local “assault weapons” bans and standard-capacity magazine bans.

The cases were filed in Federal District courts representing the First Circuit (Massachusetts), Second Circuit (Connecticut), Seventh Circuit (Highland Park and Naperville, Illinois), and the Ninth Circuit (Hawaii).  Cases in the Tenth Circuit against the state of Colorado had previously been filed a month prior, all with local plaintiffs in each state jurisdiction.

“States have been ignoring the Second Amendment and the Heller and McDonald decisions for far too long – and law-abiding gun owners are sick and tired of their unconstitutional antics, which disarm millions of Americans,” said Dudley Brown, President of the National Association for Gun Rights. “In light of the Bruen decision and the success we’ve had in suing localities in Colorado, we’re going after every Federal Circuit Court which has upheld egregious firearms bans. They must immediately overturn their ‘assault weapons’ and magazine bans– and our suits argue just that.”

These suits come as an extension of existing litigation by local Colorado affiliate Rocky Mountain Gun Owners against several municipal cases where Democrat-appointed federal judges have already granted Temporary Restraining Orders based on the Bruen decision preventing the enforcement of “assault weapons” and magazine ban ordinances.

“Our mission has always been to expand pro-gun precedents and defend gun owners,” said Hannah Hill, Research and Policy Director for the National Foundation for Gun Rights, the legal defense arm of the National Association for Gun Rights. “The brilliant decision from Justice Thomas this summer has provided us with the ammo to free millions of law-abiding Americans who are being unjustly denied their gun rights.”

If successful, the National Association for Gun Rights will push to overturn these unconstitutional gun control laws, and establish a national precedent permanently ending all similar bans on commonly owned firearms and magazines across the country

“We are simply asking for the courts to enforce the Supreme Court’s pro-gun Bruen ruling by re-evaluating and striking down each of these gun control laws under the new national standard which outlaws gun controls that are not consistent with the ‘text, history, tradition of the Second Amendment’ as required in the Bruen decision,” concluded Brown.

Copies of the lawsuits can be viewed at: LINK

The National Association for Gun Rights is the nation’s largest “no compromise” pro-gun organization, with 4.5 million members nationwide.

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Hawaii “Assault Pistol” and Magazine Ban Lawsuit

The National Foundation for Gun Rights is suing the state of Hawaii to overturn their so called “assault pistol” and magazine ban. With the decision handed down in Bruen, laws like this one will now need to find their justification in the history, text, and tradition of the Second Amendment. These laws ban firearms that are in common use throughout the United States in violation of the rule set forth in Heller. Hawaii is in the 9th Circuit of the US Court of Appeals. A victory here will establish good legal precedent throughout the entire circuit, including AK, WA, OR, CA, AZ, NV, ID, and MT.

PDF: Hawaii Complaint  

KITV: New lawsuit filed in Hawaii aiming to end certain handgun restrictions