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En banc arguments in a controversial gun rights case were animated Thursday, but don't be surprised if the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sits on this one for awhile. A federal appellate court in Chicago said in June that the Second Amendment should not restrict state gun control laws until the Supreme Court rules that the right binds the states. The high court is scheduled to make up its mind next week about whether to grant cert. "That may well give us an answer, and there would be no need for us to decide this case," 9th Circuit Judge...

The above link is to the audio of the en bank rehearing by the 9th Circuit of Nordyke v. King, a California case dealing with whether the federal individual Right to Keep & Bear Arms should be incorporated against the States. This argument took place just this morning. I don't pretend to know all the facts & procedural history of this case, but what looks to be a good summary is provided by the CalGuns Foundation here.

A federal appeals court in San Francisco on Thursday will confront America's next big gun rights question: Whether or not the Second Amendment prevents state governments from enacting anti-gun laws. The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in a case that's likely to decide whether the Bill of Rights' guarantee of a right to "keep and bear arms" restricts only the federal government and the District of Columbia -- the current state of affairs -- or whether it can be invoked to strike down intrusive state and local laws too. In an earlier ruling in April,...

(IStockPhoto) A federal appeals court on September 24 will hear a high-profile gun rights case that's a leading candidate to end up before the U.S. Supreme Court. The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is likely to decide whether the Second Amendment's guarantee of a right to "keep and bear arms" restricts only the federal government -- the current state of affairs -- or whether it can be used to strike down intrusive state and local laws too. A three-judge panel ruled that the Second Amendment does apply to the states. But now a larger Ninth Circuit panel will rehear...

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals just agreed to host another shootout over gun rights. The court decided Wednesday to review en banc a panel ruling that had significantly broadened Second Amendment protections by applying them to state and local governments. This holding, arrived at by Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain, is at odds with other rulings from around the country -- including one penned by 2nd Circuit Judge Sonia Sotomayor. The 9th Circuit panel had still upheld an Alameda County, Calif., ordinance that forbids a gun show at a public fairground. Thus neither side had asked for en banc review....

The Supreme Court already has two cases it could use for a new look at the scope of gun rights under the Second Amendment, another case is on the way, and now, perhaps before long, there could be a fourth. The Ninth Circuit Court has received new briefs strongly urging it not to rehear en banc the case of Nordyke, et al., v. King, et al. (docket 07-15763), and one brief that is lukewarm on the subject, saying only that further — but only partial — review “would be useful.� Each of the cases now at the Court or on the way...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683 National Rifle Association Files Suit Against Restrictive San Francisco Gun Ordinance Wednesday, May 20, 2009 Fairfax, Va. --- The National Rifle Association, the San Francisco Retired Police Officers Association, and a group of San Francisco residents filed a Second Amendment lawsuit in federal court last Friday seeking to invalidate the San Francisco ordinance that requires all residents to store their handguns in a locked container or disabled with a trigger lock. “Time and again, we see city governments attempt to strip their citizens of basic self-defense rights, and NRA will work tirelessly...

In a peculiar but not unprecedented turn of events, an anti-gun control plaintiff lost his case, last month's Nordyke v. King(pdf), but nonetheless managed to elicit a groundbreaking pro-gun rights declaration from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.In deciding that it was OK for California’s Alameda County to bar the possession of guns on county property—a law that quashed a gun show that had long been held on county fairgrounds—the Ninth Circuit affirmed that the Second Amendment does control state and local actions as well as federal ones. That was a step farther than last year's decision in District of...

Last June, the Supreme Court ruled in District of Columbia v. Heller that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to keep and bear arms, at least in the home for self-defense.  Here’s our own Bob Levy, who masterminded the Heller litigation, talking about that decision: While the Court’s ruling was a watershed in constitutional interpretation, it technically applied only to D.C., striking down the District’s draconian gun ban but not having a direct effect in the rest of the country.Well, today the Ninth Circuit (the federal appellate court covering most Western states) ruled that the Second Amendment restricts the power of state...

Mr. Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorney General California Department of Justice PO Box 944255 Sacramento, CA, 94244-2550 SUBJECT: 9th Federal Circuit Court Ruling on Nordyke v. King – Impact to California Law April 20, 2009 the United States 9th Circuit Court of Appeal rendered its opinion on Nordyke v. King. (http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2009/04/20/0715763.pdf) As of that date, the 2nd Amendment to the United States Constitution is found to be incorporated against the states, including California, which is within the jurisdiction of the 9th Circuit. The California Department of Justice must now cease and desist from enforcing any and all state legislative enactments...

We therefore conclude that the right to keep and bear arms is “deeply rooted in this Nation’s history and tradition.” Colonial revolutionaries, the Founders, and a host of commentators and lawmakers living during the first one hundred years of the Republic all insisted on the fundamental nature of the right. It has long been regarded as the “true palladium of liberty.” Colonists relied on it to assert and to win their independence, and the victorious Union sought to prevent a recalcitrant South from abridging it less than a century later. The crucial role this deeply rooted right has played in...

BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Second Amendment Foundation today applauded the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco for ruling that the Second Amendment is incorporated against the states and local governments. The majority opinion was written by Judge Diarmuid F. O'Scannlain, with a concurring opinion from Judge Ronald M. Gould, who wrote, “The right to bear arms is a bulwark against external invasion…That we have a lawfully armed populace adds a measure of security for all of us and makes it less likely that a band of terrorists could make headway in an attack on any community before more...

A long-running challenge to Alameda County's ban on gun shows at the annual county fair in Pleasanton was back before a federal appeals court in San Francisco today. Gun show promoters Russell and Sallie Nordyke, of Willows in Glenn County, claim the ban violates their constitutional First Amendment right of free speech and their Second Amendment right to bear arms. Their lawyer, Donald Kilmer, told the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, "We are asking to be allowed to hold the traditionally law-abiding gun shows held in the country fair for 10 years." A three-judge panel took the case under...

Restoring the Second Amendment Why state and local governments should respect the right to bear arms Damon W. Root | October 7, 2008 For nearly 10 years, the case of Nordyke v. King has been winding its way through the California courts. At issue is a 1999 Alameda County ordinance banning the possession of firearms on county-owned property, a law enacted primarily to keep gun shows out of the county fairground. To date, the case has been heard by the district court, the California Supreme Court, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, where gun show promoters...

BELLEVUE, WA – Arguing that the Supreme Court opened the door toward incorporation of the Second Amendment in its landmark ruling in the Heller case, the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) has filed an amicus brief in the long-running case of Nordyke v. King, a challenge to the gun show ban in California’s Alameda County. Russell Allen Nordyke had been fighting the Alameda County gun show ban on First Amendment grounds, but a ruling in the case by a district court judge opened up a Second Amendment issue. This is a critical issue for all Americans in the wake of the...

The ongoing Nordyke case being heard in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has very favorable chances of getting the 2nd/RKBA "incorporated" under the 14th Amendment. This is the case that brings Heller out from just D.C. This case wpn't just be about California: it's a key step to 'locking in' the 2nd nationally. Some Law Enforcement associations - or at least their political leadership - will be opposing Incorporation of the 2nd Amendment. We suspect that isn't the position that most line officers, deputies and chiefs actually support. Thus, in support of the Nordyke appeal, we urgently need members...

According to attorney Don Kilmer, the Nordyke v. King lawsuit will be refused further consideration by the Ninth Circuit until the Silveira case's petition for a writ of certiorari to the US Supreme Court is decided. Silveira v. Lockyer, challenging the 26-page assault-weapons regulatory scheme enacted in California in 2000, was defeated in the Ninth Circuit on the basis of the decades-old Hickman v. Block case, in which a three-judge panel of that court held that the Second Amendment secures only a collective, not an individual, right. The petition to the Supreme Court was filed shortly thereafter. The Nordyke v....

The Nordyke v. Alameda Gun Show Ban case History: The County of Alameda passed an ordinance that prohibited possession of firearms on county property, in a thus-far successful effort to close down the T&S Gun Show formerly operated by Russ & Sally Nordyke at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton. The county was sued by the Nordykes in the Ninth Circuit Federal Court on equal protection and other grounds, and that court eventually sent the case to the California Supreme Court to answer questions regarding state gun law preemption. In a disappointing decision, the California Supreme Court disregarded the concept...

Today at 10:00am, the California Supreme Court published their opinion in Great Western Shows v. County of Los Angeles, and in Nordyke v. King, two cases that will define the future of gun shows in California. In short, they ruled that a county can ban gun shows as well as ban possession of firearms on county property, despite the numerous problems that this creates for not only gun show promoters but also law-abiding citizens. The opinions are available in PDF format at the following links: Great Western Shows v. L.A. Cty.Nordyke v. King The main page of the Supreme Court...