Posted on 08/21/2008 1:33:43 AM PDT by neverdem
In one of the first lower court rulings since the Supreme Court handed down the weakly-worded Heller Decision, a government restriction on firearms has been upheld.
Steven Mullenix, a federal firearms licensee (FFL), was denied permission to import German WWII replica rifles by the notoriously anti-gun Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE). The BATFE used arguments from the 1968 Gun Control Act to argue that the replica BD-44 held no "sporting purpose" and therefore Mr. Mullenix could not legally import them.
In return Mullenix sued the BATFE for infringing upon his right to keep and bear arms, calling their ruling "arbitrary and capricious."
Just a few short days after the Supreme Court ruled on the Heller Case -- the supposed victory for the Second Amendment --the North Carolina Circuit Court used Justice Scalia's own words to uphold the BATFE's restriction on firearms importation.
The lower court agreed with the BATFE's findings that the firearms Mr. Mullenix wanted to import were not "generally recognized as particularly suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes."
They went on to restate the Heller Decision language that the Second Amendment wasn't unlimited, and that the government has the right to restrict or ban any type of firearm, stating that the right only applies to certain types of firearms.
Clearly, the ripples of the Heller Decision will be felt for years to come. Unfortunately we can only speculate on the future unintended consequences of this weak decision.
This much we do know: the Heller Decision is far from a victory for gun owners. It is already being used successfully to infringe upon the rights of gun owners across the county.
Read the full lower court ruling in Mullenix v. BATFE here. pdf link
For all the latest Heller Decision related news, click here:
http://www.nationalgunrights.org/truthaboutheller.shtml
Boy these SOBs don’t give up.
Scalia has a strong authoritarian streak. I'm not among the FReepers who hold him in high regard. Heller would have been a far better decision if Thomas had authored it. It would have been about half a page, with "What part of 'shall not be infringed' do you not understand?" as the centerpiece.
Ehh..maybe, some pro se defendants are quite competent, most are not, the guy tried a nonsensical argument.
“My RTKBA trumps the BATFE’s right to regulate imports”
Yeah, that argument will fly...
Next Battle should be to attack the absurd and abritrary “sporting purpose only” language of the GCA of 1968.
Comment removed by moderator
There is no “sporting purpose” test for firearms.
Can someone teach a newbie how to get added to the BANGLIST?
Thanks in advance.
Weya—supporting the 2nd Amendment since 1960. Scaring the hell out of liberals since 1961
L
Man, they make a semi-auto FG42 how cool is that!
Welllll, yes it is about hunting. The powers that be just want to stipulate what we are allowed to hunt. Deer, bear, elk, quail, ducks. etc. are ok by them. Politicians are still being protected though.
The FreeRepublic "bang list" isn't something you belong to -- it is maintained by users entering the keyword "banglist" into any gun-related thread, and these threads can later be referenced by using the URL:
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/banglist/index
On the other hand, I maintain a private RKBA list of FR users who I manually and directly can flag to firearms-related articles as I, the list owner, see fit. If you want to be added to my private RKBA list, just let me know.
This is just another seed planted for the eventual destruction of the 1968 GCA. Heller had to be denied a license to own a handgun in order to reach the US Supreme Court to vindicate his constitutional right to own one. I’m not particularly worried about a corrupt North Carolina circuit court decision.
...
Justice delayed is Justice denied...It is now 40 years since the 1968 GCA. It was as wrong then as it is now. I was a child then, now my children are adults. It has been 74 years since the 1934 NFA was enacted. My grandfather was a young man then, now his great-grand-children are adults. It would seem this infringment has gone on for more than a lifetime.
Maybe, with Patience, this will all be unraveled when my great-grandchildren are adults.
Yes please.
Thanks.
Thanks for the ping!
Definitely grounds for appeal considering that the Heler decision even went so far as to mention that Miller may have to be revisted.
Look at the Civil Rights movement - the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified in 1868, and it took until 1968 for the Civil Rights Act to be passed over the strident objections of Congressional Democrats.
Segregation in schools was declared legal in 1896, and it took until 1954 for the Supreme Court to reverse that, and until 1957 for the racist Democrat Arkansas governor to be forced to comply with desegregation by Republican President Eisenhower.
What finally broke the dam after decade upon decade of tiny leaks and cracks? Victims of abuse and denial of civil rights standing up face to face with their oppressors, suffering humiliating indignities and unblinkingly confronting great personal risk, and saying "I SHALL NOT BE MOVED."
Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent. - Martin Luther King, Jr.
That's what the whole Open Carry movement is about. It's not about "defensive tactics" as some critics seem to think, it's about "political tactics." It's a daily, ongoing, lunch-counter sit-in for firearms freedom.
There's supposedly 80 million gun owners in the US. Why doesn't the NRA have 80 million members? Why don't the Second Amendment Foundation, Gun Owners of America, and Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership each have 80 million members? Why doesn't each state association have hundreds of thousands or millions of members?
We must straighten our backs and work for firearms freedom, but tens of millions of us apparently can't be bothered. Apparently 9.6 cents a day for NRA membership and 5.5 cents a day for Gun Owners of New Hampshire membership is just too much for some people. They'll talk a big game about burying their guns if Obama's elected, but they won't lift a finger to see to it that he's NOT ELECTED.
No wonder we're forty years into GCA'68 and 74 years into the NFA. It makes me sick.
The ironic thing in this case is that Miller implied that the "certain types of firearms" to which it applies specifically include machine guns, and other militarily useful weaponry, as opposed to lead pipes, blackjacks, saps, etc.
Definitely grounds for appeal considering that the Heler decision even went so far as to mention that Miller may have to be revisted.
All of those on this thread and elsewhere who are worrying about this decision, or who are saying that Heller was a sell-out or a win for the gun-ban crowd are simply wrong - and should chill out a bit so that they can understand the process.
The law of the land in this regard is stated in Heller. Granted, it is not a decision that says "anyone can own any gun they want, no restrictions allowed," but it COULDN'T have been. IF the Supreme Court decides to take a case (and it only takes about 1% of those appealed to it), it only rules on the very narrow issues specified well by the Court when it grants Cert. There may be (and usually are) some comments in a decision that go beyond the issue(s) being decided, but these aren't law, only "dicta" or comments about the subject.
The Heller decision was quite specific that sport alone was not the only activity protected by the 2nd. In fact, not even serving in the militia (that is specifically mentioned in the 2nd Amendment) is the sole criteria. Self-defense is one that was specifically added (because it was at issue), and others were hinted at. It is my opinion tha the case at issue will (if appealed) be reversed at either the Circuit or Supreme Court level. Heller has been - as Miller was and continues to be - misconstrued and misinterpreted. A loss for our side at the level of some lower federal court is necessary to set things up for a Supreme Court appeal that will be granted Cert. I am quite certain that this Court will not uphold this type of decision. In fact, this particular case (again, if appealed) may even lead to a definitive opinion about the types of guns that are protected under the 2nd.
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