Posted on 10/21/2021 4:41:45 AM PDT by marktwain
In a significant win for supporters of Second Amendment rights, the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania granted a preliminary injunction order to William Drummond and the Second Amendment Foundation, Inc. on October 13, 2021.
Drummond had sought to open a sportsman’s club at an existing range that had operated as the Greater Pittsburgh Gun Club since the middle 1960s. It consists of 265 acres in Robinson Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania.
In December of 2017, Drummond entered into a lease to operate the club. On February 19, 2018, the Robinson Township Board of Supervisors commenced proceedings to deny Drummond the ability to operate the range, through a change in the zoning ordinance.
The Board denied Drummond’s application for a zoning permit to operate the club. The lawsuit was brought by Drummond, with the aid of the Second Amendment Foundation, claiming the zoning ordinance violated Drummond’s Second Amendment Rights.
The District Court dismissed the lawsuit in January of 2019. The case was appealed to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. The Third Circuit vacated the District Court’s dismissal and sent the case back, based on the violation of the Second Amendment by the zoning ordinance.
One of the findings of the court seems of particular significance. From the order:
Although the health, safety, and welfare are substantial government interests, the Township must provide some evidence of how the amendments to the Zoning Ordinance serve those substantial government interests. The government must “persuade us that ‘the recited harms are real, not merely conjectural, and that the regulation will in fact alleviate these harms in a direct and material way.’”
Although the case took most of four years to resolve, this is a very significant win. Those who want to restrict Second Amendment rights must show real evidence of harm,
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
The government cannot just shut down ranges at a whim.
This would apply to vax mandates as well. How much of an "emergency" is something that has a >99% survival rate and current US mortality is half what it was from the maximum?
Sure they can.
Some pissant township hacks, closed this range down {or curtailed it's operations} for 4 years and while he has won in a specific court, do you think the hacks will stop.
If this group is done, there will be more coming from a different bunch of gummint stiffs.
It's what they do; "They are, who we thought they were" coach Dennis Greene.
Uh ok... if “conjecture” is now unconstitutional and illegal how in the world are politicians going to function?
90% of the crap they spew is speculation...
I never saw a grandma get pushed over a cliff. Did you?
Yet we still need a judge’s permission to exercise basic rights.
He was denied a permit to open the shop...despite the fact that the right to keep and bear arms is *specifically* guaranteed in the Constitution.
A well “regulated” militia ... it would be pretty unregular if people are unable to correctly use their weapons.
The fight is far from over, but we are winning victories.
“ The government must “persuade us that ‘the recited harms are real, not merely conjectural, and that the regulation will in fact alleviate these harms in a direct and material way.’”
My little town in northern Virginia recently passed a law banning guns from town offices for just such nebulous and imagined safety reasons. Other places in NOVA with similar ordinances are being sued, but don’t care because the residents are the ones footing the legal bills.
I hate social justice Dims.
I'm sure the lower court will get right on it.
What cases like this show is that the rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights are incompatible with the administrative state. Any government official at any level can, at any time, interfere with your 1st, 2nd, 4th or 5th Amendment rights and it will take years and a small fortune to get redress. And even if you win in the end, there will almost never be any penalty for the officials involved.
Even with the (remote) possibility that you'll win in court, you need a small fortune to pursue the case. This effectively turns most of the US into an oligarchy, since only the rich can afford access and ordinary people have no effective recourse to the legal system. In addition, the upper classes can purchase exemptions through lobbying or bribery.
The only permanent solution is a restoration of freedom and the abolition of the myriad of picayune regulatory powers or the creation of special courts to expedite and reduce the cost of such adjudication.
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When we considered moving east I was looking at a job in Sayre, PA. Reading their benefits website I noticed that the first day of deer hunting season was a holiday — maybe even a state holiday but am not sure about that. In any case, probably not smart to mess with Second Amendment there.
One would hope, it's written quite clearly in the constitution. Now I am fingers crossed hoping the SCOTUS offers up more good news on this front.
“Anarcho-tyranny”
Ours is going out of business, up for sale, to many COVID mandates in a FREAKING BLUE HIGH CRIME COUNTY.
Sure doesn’t stop them from trying though does it…
A little bit of good news now and then is a good thing.
The lower court immediately issued an injunction against the Town Zoning Board.
They did not wait long.
That’s unusually fast, at least from what I’ve read. Especially if the lower court disagrees. But I’m glad they acted. Still, how long did it take?
The process took a bit less than two months.
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