Category Archives: Second Amendment

Castle Rock Town Manager Mark Stevens, on the screen, addresses members of the Castle Rock Town Council during the hearing.

The Second Amendment was front and center this week as the Castle Rock Town Council gave its initial OK to repeal an ordinance prohibiting open carrying of firearms in public buildings and parks.

After hearing statements for nearly four hours Tuesday night from 53 people 24 in support, 28 against and one neutral the council passed the repeal on a 4-3 vote.

"I think it shows the residents of Castle Rock that their town council will stand up for their constitutional freedoms when possible," Castle Rock Mayor Paul Donahue said Wednesday.

Donahue, an investor in the Centennial Gun Club, said his vote for the repeal reflected his constituents' wishes.

"This was not an easy decision to make," he said. "But the majority of the feedback I received from my constituents was to repeal it."

In December, the council asked for an ordinance to repeal its open-carry rule. State law allows people to carry weapons in public, but local governments have the ability to ban visible firearms in town-owned and town-operated buildings, parks and open spaces. Castle Rock's ban has been in place since 2003.

"I am not sure if it will benefit or not benefit the community, but it will benefit our Second Amendment right," Woody Howarth, a Castle Rock business owner and resident, said Wednesday.

Rocky Mountain Gun Owners helped fuel the repeal campaign by providing information and grassroots support.

"Rocky Mountain Gun Owners is against any measure that restricts law-abiding gun owners of their constitutional right," spokeswoman Danielle Thompson said Wednesday. "Citizens should be allowed to carry the tools of self-defense."

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2nd Amendment fuels debate over Castle Rock repeal of open-carry ban

The decision on Monday by federal judge Edmond Chang in Illinois Association of Firearms Retailers v. Chicago to throw out Chicagos ban on gun sales comes as no surprise, but it illustrates the continuing efforts of the citys political leadership, including Mayor Rahm Emanuel, to deny the Second Amendment rights of its residents and to evade a U.S. Supreme Court decision.

Judge Chang of the Northern District of Illinois declared unconstitutional municipal ordinances that banned virtually all sales and transfers of firearms inside the Citys limits with the exception of those received through inheritance and that prohibited the construction and operation of gun stores (the judge stayed his opinion while the decision is appealed). This was just the latest skirmish in the judicial war being waged in Chicago (and Illinois) over the Second Amendment.

The Supreme Court invalidated Chicagos ban on the ownership of handguns four years ago in McDonald v. City of Chicago. In 2011, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the plaintiffs in another case against the city, Ezell v. City of Chicago, were entitled to an injunction against part of the new Chicago gun ordinance that the city council passed only four days after the McDonald decision. It required one hour of range training as a prerequisite to lawful gun ownership, yet prohibited all gun ranges in the city. The range ban was deemed a serious encroachment on the right to maintain proficiency in firearm use, an important corollary to the meaningful exercise of the core right to possess firearms for self-defense.

In 2012, the Seventh Circuit was forced to act again in Moore v. Madigan, when it threw out as unconstitutional an Illinois state ban on carrying a weapon outside of a home or business. The court held that the Second Amendments core right of armed self-defense extends past the four walls of the home and into the public. This was the last ban on concealed carry in the nation.

Judge Chang recognized that one of the fundamental duties of government is to protect its citizens. But on the other side is another feature of government: certain fundamental rights are protected by the Constitution, put outside of governments reach, including the right to keep and bear arms for self-defense under the Second Amendment. As anyone with any common sense would agree (except, it seems, some legislators in Chicago), that Second Amendment right must also include the right to acquire a firearm.

The judge found that all the reasons the city used to justify the ban on gun sales and gun dealers did not support the claim that such a ban was necessary to protect the public or reduce gun violence. In fact, the judge systematically took apart all of the citys arguments, concluding that Chicagos lack of compelling justifications for these ordinances rendered them unconstitutional.

The fact that law-abiding residents could travel outside the city to acquire a firearm did not make the ordinance constitutional, any more than abridgement of the First Amendment right to speak in a particular location is acceptable just because it may be exercised in some other place.

The real question now is whether the city has finally learned its lesson and will stop implementing unreasonable roadblocks to legitimate gun ownership. It is time for the city to acknowledge the Second Amendment rights of its residents and quit wasting taxpayer money on preventing them from protecting themselves.

- Hans von Spakovsky is a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation and the former counsel to the assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Justice Department.

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Will Chicago’s Latest Gun Ban Being Thrown out Finally Teach the City a Lesson?

Texas DPS: Reenactors Can Carry Outside Capitol But Not Second Amendment Activists
Texas DPS: Reenactors Can Carry Outside Capitol But Not Second Amendment Activists.

By: Bharat

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Texas DPS: Reenactors Can Carry Outside Capitol But Not Second Amendment Activists - Video

Second Amendment Talk
This is a monologue about the second amendment to the US constitution and gun rights in general. This YT video is mostly talk plus some music in the backgrou...

By: drpreppersc

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Second Amendment Talk - Video

THE SECOND AMENDMENT - Gmod Prop Hunt
When I laugh on slow motion children cry. Don #39;t forget to subscribe! 😀 http://goo.gl/IbRz5X# People in de videoz: Trump - http://www.youtube.com/thatdudetru...

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THE SECOND AMENDMENT - Gmod Prop Hunt - Video

Gun Shirts | Cool 2nd Amendment T Shirts
Cool Pro Gun T Shirts. Support the 2nd Amendment Right to Bear Arms. Limited Edition Second Amendment Shirt, grab it here for the cheapest price: http://ltd-...

By: Ltd Tees

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Gun Shirts | Cool 2nd Amendment T Shirts - Video

TATS 2MIN NEWS December 9, 2013 Obama is opposes to the Second Amendment
Health director who approved Obama birth certificate dies in plane crash http://www.tatoott1009.com/2013/12/12... They are keeping everyone distracted while ...

By: Yejide Schult

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TATS 2MIN NEWS December 9, 2013 Obama is opposes to the Second Amendment - Video

Jerry Patterson speech 1/19/13.
Jerry Patterson speaking at the GRAA, CATI-Texas and Texas Carry second amendment rally.

By: jddcc1

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Jerry Patterson speech 1/19/13. - Video

U.S. Senators Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) are backing legislation that would allow persons with state-issued conceal carry permits to use them in other states with conceal carry laws.

The Concealed Cary Reciprocity Act of 2014 (S.1908) is intended to defend the Second Amendment rights of individuals with conceal carry permits, allowing them to carry those privileges from their home state to other states that also have conceal carry laws.

Second amendment rights shouldnt stop at the state line, Cochran said. It makes sense to allow law-abiding gun owners to take their concealed permit privileges with them to states that also allow conceal carry permits.

I am strongly committed to upholding Americans constitutional right to keep and bear arms, Wicker said. This legislation would ensure this right is not limited to the state where the concealed carry permit was issued. It responsibly grants legal gun owners the same freedom in states with concealed carry laws.

While extending concealed carry privileges, the legislation recognizes states rights and does not provide for a national concealed carry permit.

Cochran and Wicker, both members of the Congressional Sportsmens Caucus, were among 57 Senators who earlier this year voted in favor of an amendment comparable to this legislation. In addition, the Mississippi Senators cosponsored similar legislation in the 112th Congress.

S.1908 was introduced by Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) and is also cosponsored by Senators Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), Mike Johanns (R-Neb.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and David Vitter (R-La.). The measure has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

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Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act Has Cochran, Wicker Support

A Look at Second Amendment Issues on U.S. Campuses
Bryan H. Beauman of Sturgill, Turner, Barker Moloney addresses the intersection of the Second Amendment and U.S. higher education institutions.

By: Employment Law Alliance

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A Look at Second Amendment Issues on U.S. Campuses - Video