PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

BRUEN STRIKES AGAIN!

This week’s President’s Message “Bruen Strikes Again”, is about the recent case out of Philadelphia by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.  The court ruled a non-violent felon by the name of Bryan Range, who was denied his Second Amendment Rights for over thirty years, had been wrongly disarmed. 

This case is significant in that it starts to reign in State Legislatures and the US Congress from whittling away at all of our Constitutional rights by legislative fiat. 

Having filed and argued an amicus brief on behalf of Mr. Range, the Firearms Policy Coalition and the FPC Action Foundation released a statement on this case. Here is part of the FPC and FPCAF statement:

“In 1995, Bryan Range was convicted in a Pennsylvania state court for making a false statement to obtain food stamps assistance, a class one misdemeanor. Because of that conviction twenty-eight years ago, he was forever banned from possessing firearms, a fundamental right protected by the Second Amendment. Today, the en banc Third Circuit held that ban unconstitutional.

“At root, the Government’s claim that only ‘law-abiding, responsible citizens’ are protected by the Second Amendment devolves authority to legislators to decide whom to exclude from ‘the people,’” wrote Judge Hardiman in the majority opinion. “We reject that approach because such ‘extreme deference gives legislatures unreviewable power to manipulate the Second Amendment by choosing a label.’”

FPC and FPCAF filed amicus briefs in this case at both the 3-judge and en banc panel stages, and FPCAF’s Director of Constitutional Studies, Joseph Greenlee, argued the case as an amicus curiae before the 3-judge panel.

Greenlee’s authoritative scholarship on the issue, an article published by the Wyoming Law Review in 2020, was cited in both a concurring and dissenting opinion, as it had been by the 3-judge panel opinion. His newest article on the issue argues for a result consistent with today’s ruling by the en banc majority.

“For nearly three decades, Mr. Range has been unjustly denied his Second Amendment rights,” said Greenlee. “We’re thrilled that Mr. Range’s rights have been restored, and about the decision’s potential implications for countless others who have been wrongfully disarmed.””

I cannot emphasize how significant this ruling is not just because of the Bruen Decision, but also the passage of the Freedom Amendment in Iowa, last Fall.  

Please continue to support IFC’s efforts on your behalf by joining or renewing your membership here. 

Shoot Straight, Speak The Truth, and Never Surrender Our Liberties.

Dave Funk
President, IFC