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Lane vs Holder, Flaherty


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BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation today filed suit in U.S. District Court in Virginia challenging the constitutionality of federal and Virginia provisions barring handgun sales to non-residents.

 

SAF is joined in the lawsuit by Michelle Lane, a District of Columbia resident who cannot legally purchase handguns because there are no retail firearms dealers inside the District. The Supreme Court’s 2008 Heller ruling struck down the District’s handgun ban, confirming that individuals have a constitutional right to possess handguns.

 

SAF and Lane are represented by attorney Alan Gura of Gura & Possessky, PLLC, who won both the Heller ruling and last year’s Supreme Court victory in McDonald v. City of Chicago. Named as defendants are Attorney General Eric Holder and W. Steven Flaherty, superintendent of the Virginia State Police.

 

“This is an important issue in the era of the national instant background check,” said SAF Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “The NICS check should allow law-abiding citizens like Miss Lane to exercise their Second Amendment rights regardless their place of residence.”

 

“Americans don’t check their constitutional rights at the state line,” said Gura. “And since Michelle Lane is legally entitled to possess firearms, forcing her to seek a non-existing D.C. dealer to buy a handgun is pointless when perfectly legitimate options exist minutes across the Potomac River.”

 

“The Supreme Court has ruled that District residents have an individual right, protected by the Constitution, to have a handgun in their home,” Gottlieb noted. “The high court has also ruled that the Second Amendment applies to the states. Existing state and federal statutes violate both the spirit and letter of recent court rulings and the Constitution, and our lawsuit seeks to remedy that situation.”

 

http://saf.org/viewpr-new.asp?id=356

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After considering, and rejecting, the possibility of Washington DC itself acting as an FFL, the city has now approved firrearm transfers within police stations and licensing agencies.

 

As a result, the PI has been denied by the District Court and the case dismissed as moot.

 

Alan Gura stated:

 

http://www.wtop.com/...109&sid=2463156

 

The court viewed our lawsuit as challenging the lack of D.C. gun dealers, and dismissed the case by finding that the government was not responsible for that situation," Gura wrote in an email to WTOP about the suit's dismissal. "We strongly believe this basically miscomprehends the nature of our claim and we look forward to the appeal.

Lane v Holder 7-15-2011 Order to Dismiss.pdf

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