CCRKBA AMICUS TO COURT: ‘HISTORY DOES NOT ALLOW AR-15 PROHIBITION’
BELLEVUE, WA – Declaring that history does not provide any authority for modern semiautomatic rifles to be banned, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) has submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the plaintiffs in two consolidated cases challenging bans in Cook County, Illinois and the state of Connecticut.
The cases are Viramontes v. Cook County (Illinois) and Grant v. Higgins (Connecticut). They are brought by CCRKBA’s sister organization, the Second Amendment Foundation, and several partners.
The 31-page brief is joined by Dr. Angus Kirk McClellan, an independent scholar of Anglo-American legal history, and by Jews For the Preservation of Firearms Ownership.
“In our brief,” noted CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “we take a scholarly journey through the history of arms regulation; not just firearms, but other arms including swords, knives and other lawful arms. Nowhere in history is there any justification for outright bans of any arms, only the regulation of their misuse. As we explain, AR-15-style rifles serve recognized lawful purposes for home and personal defense, hunting, target shooting, organized competition and pest and predator control.”
Studies estimate that firearms labeled “assault weapons” account for well under one percent of violent crimes, the brief says, while such firearms are “commonly possessed safeguards used for lawful purposes—not instruments outside lawful use and not identified with violent criminality.”
“It is gratifying to see that CCRKBA is in very good company with our historical amicus brief,” Gottlieb said. “We are taking sides with 27 state attorneys general, with the U.S. Department of Justice, with law enforcement groups and literally ever other major firearms civil rights organization in the country. We all know what is at stake when the Court hears oral arguments in December, and the Citizens Committee is proud to stand in support of the Constitution and we are confident the Second Amendment will prevail.”
