Month: February 2016

for Immediate Release:

(Groton, CT) – The Connecticut Citizens Defense League along with fellow plaintiffs have filed an appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States (Shew v. Malloy). The appeal challenges part of Public Act 13-3 (An Act Concerning Gun Violence Prevention and Children’s Safety) that was enacted by the Connecticut Legislature back in 2013.

The plaintiffs are challenging the ban on certain firearms that look similar to assault rifles. The plaintiffs claim that these are common semi-automatic firearms that only shoot once when the trigger is pulled; identical to others not banned. Real “assault rifles” are full-automatic and can fire multiple times when the trigger is pulled. Real assault rifles are already highly regulated by both federal and state government, and civilian ownership is quite rare.

The plaintiff’s challenge has been narrowed to focus strictly on the banned firearms and not magazines that contain 10 rounds or more as originally argued. The legal strategy behind this tactic is to offer the Supreme Court consideration to solely address this single issue with the hope that they will hear the case.

A similar case is expected to be filed soon in New York that may broaden the challenge to address magazines.

Comments from CCDL President Scott Wilson:
 
“We are thankful to finally have our petition filed with the Supreme Court. We have waited patiently for nearly three years to get to this stage, and we hope that the court will hear our arguments”.

“The firearms that have been banned under Public Act 13-3 are common firearms that are owned and enjoyed by millions of Americans throughout the country. They are excellent tools for home defense, and great for competition, hunting and target shooting. The law also bans firearms and features that enhance safety and allow physically disabled persons to exercise their rights and enjoy these same activities”.

“The Connecticut Citizens Defense League wishes to thank our fellow plaintiffs (especially June Shew) for being a part of this journey for justice. We also wish to thank our devoted members, numerous gun clubs, retailers, private individuals and of course the NRA-ILA for their help and support in getting us to this stage”.

“Public Act 13-3 infringes upon rights guaranteed by both the federal and state Constitution. Connecticut residents deserve to have these rights restored and protected by the Supreme Court”.

The filed petition (486 pages) may be downloaded here: Shew v. Malloy SCOTUS Petition as filed (pdf)

02/11/2016
for Immediate Release:

(Groton, CT) – The Connecticut Citizens Defense League along with fellow plaintiffs have filed an appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States (Shew v. Malloy). The appeal challenges part of Public Act 13-3 (An Act Concerning Gun Violence Prevention and Children’s Safety) that was enacted by the Connecticut Legislature back in 2013.

The plaintiffs are challenging the ban on certain firearms that look similar to assault rifles. The plaintiffs claim that these are common semi-automatic firearms that only shoot once when the trigger is pulled; identical to others not banned. Real “assault rifles” are full-automatic and can fire multiple times when the trigger is pulled. Real assault rifles are already highly regulated by both federal and state government, and civilian ownership is quite rare.

The plaintiff’s challenge has been narrowed to focus strictly on the banned firearms and not magazines that contain 10 rounds or more as originally argued. The legal strategy behind this tactic is to offer the Supreme Court consideration to solely address this single issue with the hope that they will hear the case.

Click here to read the rest of this article on the CCDL Blog.

On Thursday (2/11/2016) CCDL along with the other name plaintiffs will be filing our request for the United States Supreme Court to take up our case on appeal (Shew v Malloy).

This is an important moment in the case. Our appeal is going to focus on the ban on so-called assault weapons, but we want to emphasize that we haven’t given up in any way, shape, or form on the challenge to the magazine ban.

We remain fully committed to ensuring that the magazine ban is thrown out. But we want to give the Supreme Court a menu of options – so our petition will focus on the ban on safety enhancing features, and we expect that a subsequent petition in the New York case will focus on both magazines and the banned features.
Rest assured that if the Supreme Court wants to take up both issues (firearms and magazines), it will have the ability to do so, and that whatever ruling comes from the Court on magazines will redound fully to the benefit of Connecticut.

More information about the petition will be available on Thursday after it is filed with the Court.

Supreme Court challenges are extremely expensive. The total bill for DC v Heller was $3.5 million.
CCDL is an all-volunteer, free to join non-profit organization (501c4).
As such all the money to fund this fight for your constitutional rights comes solely from donations. If you can afford to, please donate to our Litigation Fund.
Thank you.