The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) is an educational/legal-defense organization which describes its mission as:
"Promoting a better understanding about our Constitutional heritage to privately own and possess firearms. To that end, SAF carries on many educational- and legal-action programs designed to better inform the public about the gun-control debate."
"Promoting a better understanding about our Constitutional heritage to privately own and possess firearms. To that end, SAF carries on many educational- and legal-action programs designed to better inform the public about the gun-control debate."
SAF was founded in 1974 by Alan Gottlieb, and as of 2012 it has over 650,000 members.
The Second Amendment Foundation’s Legal Preemption Project continues to remove anti-gun laws all across the country.
So far SAF has removed well over one hundred anti-gun rights laws and statutes in several states just by threatening to file suit in our courts.
On FoxNews.com the headline read:
Gun-rights group persuading dozens of towns to repeal firearms regs in legal blitz
The story by Barnini Chakraborty on August 22, 2014 stated "Gun-rights group persuading dozens of towns to repeal firearms regs in legal blitz Gun-rights group persuading dozens of towns to repeal firearms regs in legal blitz."
"The Second Amendment Foundation is fired up and fighting back."
And yes, they are indeed.
The Second Amendment Foundation is based in Washington state. And yes, they are the premier gun-rights group that is taking the fight to those who want to attack the Bill of Rights -- in particular our 2nd Amendment rights.
They are persuading cities and towns across the country to repeal local firearms regulations and give that power back to the states -- the people.
The Second Amendment Foundation is working to invalidate city ordinances by arguing that they're in conflict with looser state regulations.
So far, it seems to be working.
The group says it's been able to overturn more than 100 gun-related ordinances this way, most recently in Utah.
"We’re going state by state, going through every single ordinance of every city and county in every state and finding where the cities and counties have ordinances enacted that are in conflict with state law,” Alan Gottlieb, founder and executive vice president of the SAF, told FoxNews.com.
Usually this means repealing local ordinances that run afoul of state law which, in turn, gives almost all gun-regulating power to the state.
These cities and local communities still have the authority to outlaw someone shooting a gun but not necessarily possessing or carrying them. Yes, there's the difference!
So far the Second Amendment Foundation has helped overturn gun rules in nine states, including Illinois, California, North Carolina, New Mexico and Nevada.
It is all about the Second Amendment Foundation’s Legal Preemption Project.
In Utah alone the organization recently mailed letters to 49 municipalities in Utah -- one of the most gun-friendly states in the country.
Utah is so gun-rights friendly that 3 years ago, Utah became the first state in the nation to recognize an official state gun -- the M1911 semi-automatic pistol.
While the state of Utah is gun-rights friendly, SAF has already gotten several cities in Utah to change their codes.
West Point, a small community located about 30 minutes north of Salt Lake City, swapped out their current law banning guns in the city cemetery earlier this week and replaced it with one that prohibits firing a gun in the graveyard.
Twenty miles south of Salt Lake in the city of Draper, a ban on guns in the amphitheater and local parks was also lifted. An ordinance prohibiting anyone from firing a gun at those locations was put in its place.
"By and large most of the jurisdictions have amended their ordinances," Mr. Gottlieb said. "We have a reputation and a track record. We do file lawsuits and we do win."
Currently, SAF has more than two dozen active lawsuits around the country.
In May, the group sued the city of Tallahassee, its mayor John Marks and City Commissioners Nancy Miller, Andrew Gillum and Gil Ziffer.
The lawsuit claims that under the city’s ordinance, which criminalizes the discharge of firearms and airguns, there is no provision that carves out an exception for the lawful use of a firearm in self-defense.
"Tallahassee has way over-stepped its authority under state preemption," Mr. Gottlieb said when filing the suit.
"The Florida Legislature has exclusive domain over firearms regulation. When the law was passed, it nullified all existing, and future, city and county firearm ordinances and regulations."
"This is not the first time we have had to take a city to court for violating a state preemption law."
Mr. Gottlieb added, "Why municipal governments still don’t understand the concept of preemption is a mystery to us."
Among their big wins the Second Amendment Foundation sued the city of Seattle over a regulatory ban on guns in city park facilities, and was also instrumental in the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court case that challenged Chicago’s handgun ban.
In that case, Chicago’s 28-year-old ban on handgun ownership by American citizens was ruled unconstitutional.
With a full-time staff of only one lawyer, the Second Amendment Foundation gets much of its research from law school students on internships.
“We run lean and mean,” Mr. Gottlieb said.
I have supported the Second Amendment Foundation for a long time. And yes, I have tried to get others to do the same.
If you are a gun-owner, a patriot, an American who believes as I do that the Constitution of the United States is worth fighting for -- please support this organization.
No matter what other groups say, the Second Amendment Foundation is truly the legal arm of those fighting for our gun-rights in the courts.
And yes, they need our support.
If you want to donate to help them fight for you, click Second Amendment Foundation.
Tom Correa
