BELLEVUE, WA – The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms has petitioned the Supreme Court of the United States for review of its case challenging the long-standing ban on interstate handgun sales to law-abiding citizens from other states.
The case, known as Mance v. Whitaker, comes out of the Fifth Circuit and involves a Texas firearms retailer and two would-be customers who reside in Washington, D.C. A federal district court earlier ruled that the interstate handgun transfer ban is facially unconstitutional, which was reversed by a Fifth Circuit panel. The Fifth Circuit denied the petition for rehearing en banc by a fractured vote of 8-7. Plaintiffs in the case include CCRKBA, Andrew and Tracy Hanson of Washington, D.C. and Texas firearms retailer Fredric Mance. They are represented by attorney Alan Gura.
“The ban on interstate handgun sales was adopted decades ago,” noted CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “prior to the advent of the National Instant Check System that is now in place. The Hansons have essentially been denied the ability to legally purchase a handgun from a licensed retailer because of this prohibition.
“But our case goes to the heart of what appears to be a reluctance in the lower courts to enforce the Second Amendment even now, more than ten years after the landmark Heller ruling and eight years after the McDonald ruling,” he continued. “This continuing problem is mentioned in our petition to the high court.
“After all,” Gottlieb observed, “if a citizen is law-abiding in his home state, he or she is going to be law-abiding in a different state where they might find a firearm they want to buy, but the interstate sales ban prevents that. Citizens can purchase all sorts of other goods across state lines, but why not the one tool that is specifically mentioned and protected by the Constitution’s Second Amendment? That simply defies logic and common sense.”
Funding support for this lawsuit is provided by the Second Amendment Foundation, which is CCRKBA’s sister organization and specializes in education and litigation.
“This case has been in the system for quite some time,” Gottlieb noted. “We’re hopeful that the Supreme Court, with its new makeup, will grant our request for review.”