Category: News

National Foundation for Gun Rights press release

National Foundation for Gun Rights Asking Supreme Court for Emergency Relief from Assault Weapons Ban

Posted on | by GRFadmin

Contact: NFGR Press Room
Tel. 877-405-4570
Email: pressdept@gunrightsfoundation.org

Loveland, CO – The National Foundation for Gun Rights (NFGR) is asking the United States Supreme Court to provide emergency relief from two assault weapons bans in place in Illinois.

NFGR argues that the Illinois ban violates the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution, which guarantees the right of individuals to bear arms. NFGR’s lawsuit also challenges an AR-15 sale ban enacted by the City of Naperville, IL.

NFGR initially requested a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois blocking both the state and local bans on behalf of fellow plaintiff, Naperville gun store owner Robert Bevis, whose livelihood has been severely impacted by both bans. The district court trampled multiple Supreme Court precedents to rule against gun rights, so foundation attorneys appealed to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, pleading that Plaintiff Bevis was facing the loss of his business without speedy relief.

The Seventh Circuit declined to temporarily block the two semi-auto bans pending its review of the preliminary injunction appeal, so NFGR is filing an Emergency Application for Injunction Pending Appellate Review with the U.S. Supreme Court.

“The assault weapons ban is a blatant violation of the rights of law-abiding citizens and does nothing to address the causes of gun violence,” said Dudley Brown, President of the National Foundation for Gun Rights. “Between them, Illinois and the City of Naperville are about to drive a law-abiding gun store owner into bankruptcy just because they don’t like his business. That’s grossly unconstitutional, and we’re asking the Supreme Court to put a stop to it.”

The Emergency Appeal may be found here: https://gunrightsfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/Motion-in-S-Ct.pdf

The National Association for Gun Rights’ legal defense arm, the National Foundation for Gun Rights works to expand pro-gun precedents and defend gun owners.

The National Foundation for Gun Rights is a 501(c)(3) organization that exists to expand pro-gun precedents and defend gun owners in the courts.

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Fighting “Assault Weapons” Bans at the 7th Circuit

Posted on | by Hannah Hill

“Go home. There’s nothing unconstitutional about this gun ban.”

That’s exactly what a federal judge said in response to our lawsuit challenging semi-auto and mag bans in the state of Illinois.

In one of the worst rulings our legal team has ever witnessed, the Bush-appointed judge defied both the Supreme Court’s Bruen ruling and the Second Amendment by upholding Illinois’ “Assault Weapons” Ban.

National Foundation for Gun Rights attorneys lost no time in filing an emergency appeal to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

“End All Semi-Auto Bans” Litigation Blitz

This lawsuit — Bevis v. Naperville, IL —  is one of seven lawsuits the National Foundation for Gun Rights has filed across the United States to end semi-auto and mag bans once and for all under the Supreme Court’s Bruen ruling.

Our first lawsuit in Colorado saw early victories, with an Obama-appointed judge issuing a temporary restraining order (TRO) blocking a gun ban in the first post-Bruen victory for gun rights, followed by another TRO issued by a Biden appointee. Both TROs acknowledged that under Bruen, gun bans don’t have a leg to stand on. Then Everytown’s lawyers got to work.

Enter the anti-gun legal horde

Intent on finding loopholes in Bruen, national anti-gun organizations like Everytown, Giffords, and March for Our Lives (David Hogg’s organization) jumped in on all our lawsuits, filing hundreds of pages of dreadful legal arguments in nearly all our semi-auto ban lawsuits. The arguments they brought ranged from legal fiction to ludicrous absurdity.

For instance, Giffords argued that “Plaintiffs’ test also dangerously fails to consider the potential of the firearms industry over-saturating the market to manufacture ‘common use.’” (In other words, manufacturers sold too many guns and they did it on purpose to artificially protect AR-15s under the Second Amendment — a bizarre argument that makes no sense.)

The US Conference of Mayors tried to blame the violence problem in our country on “domestic extremists that harbor anti-government sentiment” and who “self-radicalize via online engagement” –basically calling us and all our supporters domestic terrorists because we don’t trust the government and we share memes on Facebook.

Federal judge: “Gun bans consistent with the Second Amendment”

Unfortunately, a federal judge in Illinois listened to the anti-gun organizations’ outrageous arguments and mangled the Supreme Court’s standard in Heller and Bruen to rule against gun owners.

The Supreme Court previous said in Heller that states can ban weapons if they are “dangerous AND unusual,” like bombers or tanks. The federal judge twisted this to say that a state can ban guns that are “dangerous OR unusual.”

Since all guns are dangerous, all guns are obviously “dangerous OR unusual.” In other words, this judge basically said that a state can ban any gun it wants — a result completely in defiance with what the Supreme Court actually said.  

Emergency appeal to the Seventh Circuit

As of this writing, our legal team is in the process of filing an emergency appeal to the Seventh Circuit to block the Illinois semi-auto ban, along with a local semi-auto ban passed by the City of Naperville, IL, where our plaintiff (a local gun store owner) lives.

The case, as our lawyers emphasize to the courts, is simple. The Second Amendment and the Supreme Court’s rulings all prohibit gun bans of commonly owned weapons — like America’s Rifle, the AR-15.

If the Seventh Circuit judges refuse to acknowledge this, we will appeal directly to the Supreme Court to defend the rights of gun owners by ending the leftist attacks on semi-automatic weapons for good. You can read our appeal here.

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National Foundation for Gun Rights press release

National Foundation for Gun Rights Preparing to Sue New Mexico

Posted on | by GRFadmin
National Foundation for Gun Rights press release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 17, 2023

Contact: NFGR Press Room
Tel. 877-405-4570
Email: pressdept@gunrightsfoundation.org

Santa Fe, NM – Today, the National Foundation for Gun Rights sent a legal warning to leaders in the New Mexico legislature over proposed gun control bills advancing in the legislature. Personally addressed to Speaker of the House Javier Martínez, President Pro Tempore Mimi Stewart, House Judiciary Chair Christine Chandler, and Senate Judiciary Chairman Joseph Cervantes, the letter warns that NFGR will sue the State of New Mexico if the legislature enacts any so-called “assault weapons” or standard capacity magazine bans.

Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has promised to sign gun control bills which make it to her desk.

“Our legal foundation is currently engaged in litigation aimed at overturning state and local laws banning these weapons and magazines, and we are prepared to add New Mexico to that list,” said Dudley Brown, President of the National Foundation for Gun Rights. “We’re not going to sit by and watch more politicians infringe on the God-given rights of their constituents – and we’ll sue if we have to, our letter makes that crystal clear.”

The National Foundation for Gun Rights recently filed seven lawsuits in five federal court circuits to eliminate unconstitutional magazine and semi-auto gun bans. This nationwide legal effort aims to take out every single ban on semi-automatic weapons and standard capacity magazines for good.

Sent today, the legal warning concludes with the threat of a lawsuit should any bill banning the sale, acquisition, or possession of so-called “assault weapons” or standard-capacity magazines be signed into law.

“Our attorney is standing by with his finger on the button ready to file a challenge to their unconstitutional law before the ink is even dry on the governor’s signature,” said Hannah Hill, Research and Policy Director at the National Foundation for Gun Rights. “Our mission at the National Foundation for Gun Rights is to expand pro-gun precedents and defend gun owners in the courts. We will follow through on that promise should New Mexico ignore the Second Amendment and Bruen decision from last summer.” 

A copy of the legal warning sent to legislative leadership in New Mexico can be viewed at: http://gunrightsfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/NM-legal-warning.pdf

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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Pistol Brace Rule Effective Today

Posted on | by GRFadmin

The ATF has official entered the Pistol Brace Rule into the Federal Registry as of today, January 31, 2023. This means that the 120-day “grace period” for registering pistol/pistol brace configurations as short barreled rifles under the National Firearms Act (NFA) without paying the $200 tax stamp begins today.

Essentially your chance to register your common pistol on a national gun registry without paying their tax begins today.

DISCLAIMER: The National Foundation for Gun Rights (NFGR) and the National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR) do not provide legal advice. This document should not be viewed as legal advice. The National Foundation for Gun Rights does NOT encourage anyone to break the law and encourages all gun owners to seek private legal council for advice on how to handle their specific legal or firearms related situation.

NFGR-ATFPistolBraceBan-OnePagerDownload

To help us continue fighting for your rights please donate here.

NFGR Sues Over Just-Enacted Illinois Semi-Auto Ban

Posted on | by GRFadmin

We are suing the state of Illinois over their newly passed “assault weapon” ban. While we have not filed any brand new lawsuit, we have been able to amend our current lawsuits in Highland Park and Naperville to incorporate the new state law.

NFGR has been proactive in restoring the rights of Illinoisans taking two ripe opportunities in Highland Park and Naperville to attack existing “assault weapon” bans. By merging the state ban into the existing lawsuits we are able to move the legal process forward much faster than if we had started the whole process over with a new claim.

Not only will this help with resource management by not redoing work we have already done, it will send a clear message to other states considering similar laws. These violations of our freedoms will not be tolerated.

Both our Naperville and Highland Park lawsuits can be read about here.

To help us continue fighting for your rights please donate here.

ATF Publishes Pistol Brace Rule

Posted on | by GRFadmin

The ATF has released their long-awaited pistol brace ban. The rule will be effective as soon as it is entered into the federal registry, which must be within 30 days of January 13, 2023.

The rule expands the definition of “rifle” as follows:

“the definition of ‘rifle’ shall include a weapon that is equipped with an accessory, component, or other rearward attachment (e.g., a ‘stabilizing brace’) that provides surface area that allows the weapon to be fired from the shoulder, provided other factors, as described in this preamble and in the amended regulations, indicate that the weapon is designed, made, and intended to be fired from the shoulder.”

This means that nearly any weapon with a pistol brace attached is now a rifle. If the barrel is shorter than 16″ (i.e. a pistol), it would now be classified as a short-barreled rifle and illegal unless the owner registers it with the federal government.

This has major implications for millions of law-abiding firearms holders who use pistol braces with their firearms. Unless they register those firearms with the ATF under the National Firearms Act (and pay $200 per tax stamp), they could be prosecuted for a felony.

This is a massive expansion of the only gun registry currently legal under federal law. With this rule suddenly millions of common everyday pistols get treated similarly to machine guns, silencers, and destructive devices (grenades, poisonous gases, and missiles).

So let’s call this “rule” what it really is. Gun registration for millions American gun owners.

This is a deliberate prelude to one day registering and taxing ALL rifles, pistols, or shotguns under the NFA.

Our legal team is analyzing the entirety of the 293-page document and will have a full legal analysis soon.

To help us continue fighting for your rights please donate here.

Click here for the full rule.

New York Supreme Court Judge Rules “Red Flag” Law Unconstitutional

Posted on | by GRFadmin

On December 20th, 2022 Judge Tom Moran of the New York Supreme Court ruled New York’s Red Flag style gun confiscation law, unconstitutional. Putting a temporary stop to red flag sun confiscation in New York.

This came about when a petitioner only identified as G.W. filed an application in August of 2022 for a Temporary Extreme Risk Protection Order (“TERPO”), the name for New York’s red flag law, against an ex-girlfriend listed as C.N.

C.N. hired a lawyer to defend her on Constitutional grounds ultimately resulting in the ruling that this law is unconstitutional.

This is good news for gun owners. It is the first step in setting legal precedent and it is one of the first times a judge has ruled so strongly against red flag laws.

The court stated, “Second Amendment rights are no less fundamental than, for example, Fourth Amendment rights (the right to liberty), and must be provided the same level of due process and equal protection.”

The court went on to point out, “the Second Amendment establishes that the exercise of a fundamental right ‘shall not be infringed.’ However, [this law], does exactly that.”

Red flag laws, by design, do not respect due process or the language of the Second Amendment. A fact that is revealed quite glaringly in this ruling. This was perfectly summed up in by the judge when he wrote, “While some may advocate that ‘the ends justify the means’ in support of [this law], where those means violate a fundamental right under our Bill of Rights to achieve their ends, then the law, on its face, cannot stand.”

While the court had a good ruling in this case, it did not go so far as to rule that no red flag law under any circumstances can stand. Gun grabbers will always try and find ways to weasel around the Constitution and strip us of our rights. We need to keep fighting to ensure this does not happen.

Please considered joining the fight by contributing here.

A more in dept analysis of the ruling can be downloaded here: Breakdown of NY Ruling Red Flag law as UnconstitutionalDownload

To read the entire ruling click here.

National Foundation for Gun Rights Sues Louisville, Boulder, and Boulder County

Posted on | by GRFadmin

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 18, 2022

Contact: NFGR Press Room
Tel. 877-405-4570
Email: pressdept@gunrightsfoundation.org

National Foundation for Gun Rights Sues Louisville, Boulder, and Boulder County

National Foundation for Gun Rights Sues Louisville, Boulder, and Boulder County
Joined by Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, the National Foundation for Gun Rights opposes local level gun bans

August 18, 2022

Loveland, CO – Today, the National Foundation for Gun Rights (NFGR) joined with Rocky Mountain Gun Owners (RMGO) in filing lawsuits against the cities of Louisville and Boulder, as well as Boulder County. New gun control laws recently passed by Louisville and Boulder ban certain semi-automatic rifles and standard-capacity magazines. Boulder County recently banned the sale or transfer of semi-automatic rifles and standard-capacity magazines.

Members of both organizations and citizens of the respective cities joined as plaintiffs in the lawsuits – challenging the constitutionality of the laws and arguing that their right to keep and bear arms is being directly infringed upon. Last month, NFGR and RMGO filed lawsuits against the Town of Superior over a similar ordinance, and against Gov. Jared Polis and the State of Colorado to overturn the 2013 Colorado magazine ban.

“As an organization our mission is simple: enforce and expand pro-gun precedents issued by the courts and defend gun owners in the courts. And we’re doing just that in these lawsuits,” said Hannah Hill, Research and Policy Director for the National Foundation for Gun Rights. “Law-abiding gun owners are being disarmed throughout these cities in Colorado, and the government officials issuing the new gun control ordinances are ignoring the Heller, McDonald, and Bruen decisions – we’re here fight back.”

RMGO and NFGR are funding all three of the lawsuits, challenging their constitutionality in light of the recent Supreme Court decision NYSRPA v. Bruen.

In the Bruen case, the Supreme Court rejected “intermediate scrutiny” – the cost/benefit analysis framework that allowed lower courts to rule against the Second Amendment – and established that the standard for applying the Second Amendment is the text, history, and tradition of the right to keep and bear arms; thereby invalidating the lower court rulings’ justification for gun control.

Gun control lobbyists are pouring massive amounts of money into Colorado in an effort to help enforce these illegal gun grabs and keep them on the books.

“Everytown for Gun Control and Michael Bloomberg know that the Bruen decision eviscerated the ‘standing’ they had to put unconstitutional strangleholds on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans,” said Dudley Brown, President of the National Foundation for Gun Rights. “So they’re scrambling, spending millions of dollars to pass and uphold local-level gun control laws — hoping that ordinary citizens won’t pay attention as they demolish gun rights one town at a time. But we’re paying attention and I’m looking forward to destroying them in court.”

The full text of the three lawsuits filed be can found at the following hyperlinks: Louisville, Boulder, and Boulder County.

The National Foundation for Gun Rights is a 501(c)(3) organization that exists to expand pro-gun precedents and defend gun owners in the courts.###

National Foundation for Gun Rights press release

National Foundation for Gun Rights Funds Lawsuit Against Polis and State of Colorado

Posted on | by GRFadmin
National Foundation for Gun Rights press release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 28, 2022

Contact: NFGR Press Room
Tel. 877-405-4570
Email: pressdept@gunrightsfoundation.org

National Foundation for Gun Rights Funds Lawsuit Against Polis and State of Colorado

July 28, 2022

Loveland, CO – Today, the National Foundation for Gun Rights, along with citizens Benjamin Gates and Travis Swartz, filed a lawsuit against Governor Jared Polis and the State of Colorado over the 2013 magazine ban which outlaws the sale of standard capacity magazines in Colorado.

The National Foundation for Gun Rights (NFGR) and Rocky Mountain Gun Owners (RMGO) will be solely financing this case, which challenges the constitutionality of the law in light of the recent Supreme Court decision NYSRPA v. Bruen. NFGR and RMGO are also currently suing the Town of Superior over their magazine and rifle ban, and were recently granted a temporary restraining order against the implementation of the ordinance.   

“When an Obama-appointed judge agrees that Superior is way out of line in banning magazines and rifles, that means it’s game over for gun control,” said Hannah Hill, Research and Policy Director for the National Foundation for Gun Rights. “This lawsuit is the first step in our goal of overturning mag bans nationwide. It’s time for state legislatures to recognize that they actually do have to follow the Second Amendment, and if they plan to double down on rights-shredding laws, they need to prepare to face us in court.”

In the landmark Bruen decision last month, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected “intermediate scrutiny” – the cost/benefit analysis framework that allowed lower courts to rule against the Second Amendment – and established that the standard for applying the Second Amendment is the text, history, and tradition of the right to keep and bear arms; thereby invalidating the lower court rulings’ justification for gun control.

The lawsuit funded by the National Foundation for Gun Rights and Rocky Mountain Gun Owners argues that Colorado’s 2013 magazine ban flies directly in the face of the Second Amendment and the rights of law-abiding Coloradans to own standard capacity magazines. The law should be repealed in light of the Bruen decision and the historical text, history, and tradition of the Second Amendment.  

“We’ve known for years that the magazine ban is an atrocious infringement against our gun rights, and our members are continuing the fight against this heinous law,” said Dudley Brown, President of the National Foundation for Gun Rights. “The Bruen decision is a 4-ton wrecking ball for us to use against gun control laws – and we’re going to destroy every single unconstitutional law which stands in our way. We founded NFGR to defend gun owners in the courts and use our legal expertise to eviscerate anti-gun rulings — and repealing Colorado’s magazine ban is just one of many legal projects NFGR is working on in the battle to restore the Second Amendment.”

The National Foundation for Gun Rights plans to also sue other local governments in Colorado which have imposed magazine bans and so-called “assault weapons” bans next, and is currently finalizing the details for those lawsuits.

The full text of the lawsuit filed against Gov. Polis and the State of Colorado in federal district court can be viewed here.   

The National Foundation for Gun Rights is a 501(c)(3) organization that exists to expand pro-gun precedents and defend gun owners in the courts.

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