By Tanya Metaksa
TANYA METAKSA
What’s New— State Legislation: California—Gov. Newsom signed two more anti-2nd Amendment bills into law. Florida—State Senate backs Gov. Ron DeSantis’ suspension of Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel. New Hampshire—HB 687, firearms seizure bill, has been sent to the House floor for a vote. Pennsylvania—Anderson v. City of Pittsburgh & Firearms Owners Against Crime, et al v. City of Pittsburgh—Pittsburgh found in violation of preemption law; House of Representatives passed SB 147. Judicial-Anderson v. City of Pittsburgh; Washington Superior Court grants judgment against City of Edmonds for violating state preemption statute with an ordinance mandating firearm storage, City of Missoula v. Timothy C. Fox—Montana Supreme Court upholds preemption law. 2020 Elections—Senator Elizabeth Warren’s firearms and ammunition excise tax increase proposal.
2019 Elections
Louisiana: The day before primary voting President Donald Trump went to Louisiana for a rally. At that rally he urged people to get out to vote against incumbent Governor John Bel Edwards. As a result on Oct. 12 Edwards received only 47% of the votes cast forcing a run-off election between Edwards and the Republican Eddie Rispone, a Baton Rouge business man. The general election will be on Nov. 16, 2019.
In Kentucky, Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia, Tuesday is Election Day.
Virginia: The general election is here. As we have reported there has been a concerted effort by several anti-gun groups to focus on this off-year election. The Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund, the umbrella political action committee has focused on gun control. Many Democrat candidates are touting their gun control ideas while campaigning, especially in Northern Virginia. In an article in the NY Times in August the headline read “The Next Front in the Fight Over Gun Control? Virginia.” That article stated “The Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund, the political arm of Mr. Bloomberg’s gun control organization, said this week that it would invest at least $2.5 million in Virginia before Election Day — more than it spent in either of the last two legislative elections there.”
2020 Elections
Elizabeth Warren has proposed increasing the current 10% excise tax to 30%. Those taxes that have been supported by gun owners, hunters and fishermen for over 70 years in order to maintain wildlife, shooting ranges and outdoor recreation areas and are paid as an addition to the cost of the item. This proposal in in addition to her other proposal for government imposed limits on gun and ammunition purchases.
Ballot initiatives-2020
Florida:
Ban Assault Weapons Now!, an organization of anti-gun persons who want Floridians to think they are survivors of mass shootings in Orlando and Parkland, announced June 10 that it had obtained 103,000 signed petitions. This number should allow a Florida Supreme Court review of the proposed ballot question, a first step in the process of being put on the 2020 ballot. On July 29, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody petitioned the Florida Supreme Court for a written opinion on the language of the proposed initiative. She also “requests the opportunity to present argument in opposition to placement of this proposed amendment on the ballot. The proposed amendment’s title and summary are not clear and unambiguous and do not comply with the requirements of section 101.161(1), Florida Statutes. Indeed, the title and summary should not be submitted to Florida voters because the title and summary fail to inform voters of the chief purpose of the proposed amendment and are affirmatively misleading.”
Oregon:
Initiative Petition 18 (IP18) has been filed. Petitioners must gather 1000 signatures to start the process for gathering signatures to put this measure on the ballot. IP18 is a proposal that would require all firearms to be locked unless being carried and stolen or lost firearms must be reported within 24 hours.
Federal
Trump Impeachment: On Oct, 30, the House of Representatives voted 232-196 to adopt a resolution to formalize their impeachment inquiry and adopt rules to govern the proceedings. Two Democrats joined all Republicans in voting against the resolution. This is only the fourth time in U.S. history that impeachment has been formally been instigated.
The NRA and Russia (U.S. Senate Committee on Finance Minority Staff Report). On Sept. 27, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), the Ranking Minority Member of the Senate Finance Committee, issued a report that was subtitle “How A Tax-Exempt Organization Became a Foreign Asset.” The 78-page report is full of innuendo about what transpired at several NRA Annual meetings as well as a trip that some NRA members of the Board including Pete Brownell (at the time NRA Vice-President) took to Russia in 2015. This report is substantially based on information supplied by the NRA and its officers, but is influenced by the fact that Maria Butina, a Russian citizen who was instrumental in enabling an NRA trip to Moscow, was accused of acting as a foreign agent by the US government. Butina’s trial culminated in a guilty plea to the charge of acting as a Russian agent without registering. She is currently serving an 18-month sentence in federal prison.
The release of this Minority report is prefaced by a Majority Staff Report that states, “Following two and a half years of endless, feverish speculation about so-called collusion that cast suspicion on any and all things Russian, the Minority report at issue attempts to paint a picture of the National Rifle Association with facts and innuendo that together actually demonstrate little to nothing…BASED ON THE REVIEWABLE EVIDENCE THE NRA’S TAX-EXEMPT STATUS IS NOT AT RISK .” The majority report can be accessed HERE and the minority report HERE.
House Judiciary Committee: The committee passed the following bills by straight party-line votes—Democrats voting aye and Republicans voting nay. The “Extreme Risk Protection Order Act of 2019,” H.R. 1236, a bill that would establish federal grants to state, local and tribal governments for the purpose of establishing a program designated to allow such governmental entities to remove a person’s Second Amendment rights, passed by a vote of 22-16.
H.R. 1186, the “Keep Americans Safe Act,” a bill to ban the sale, transfer and possession of magazines with more than 10 rounds, passed by a vote of 23-16. This bill as it is currently written would allow current owners to keep already owed magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds;
H.R. 2708, the “Disarm Hate Act,” this bill’s purpose is “to prevent a person who has been convicted of a misdemeanor hate crime, or received an enhanced sentence for a misdemeanor because of hate or bias in the commission, from obtaining a firearm.”
Six months ago the House passed two extreme gun control measures—H.R. 8, a universal background check bill, and H.R. 1112, a bill to extend the time from 3 days to 10 days if a prospective buyer is not cleared in a NICs check. These bills are still awaiting action in the U.S. Senate and could be incorporated into any new legislation that the House passes.
Judicial
Anderson v. City of Pittsburgh.
The City of Pittsburgh after an antisemitism attack in a synagogue passed several ordinances regarding firearms and magazines. In Anderson v. City of Pittsburgh, the claim is that “by banning the public possession and transportation of loaded standard-capacity firearm magazines that can carry more than ten rounds of ammunition, Pittsburgh has violated the rights of its citizens and exceeded its authority under Pennsylvania law.” The Allegheny Court of Common Pleas agreed that the ordinance was in violation of state law.”
Firearms Owners Against Crime, et al v. City of Pittsburgh:
In a similar lawsuit before the Allegheny Court of Common Please, the plaintiffs filed against all three ordinances—02018-1218, 2018-0219, and 2018-1220. The Court found for the plaintiffs: “Despite the City’s efforts to avoid the specific preemption set forth in § 6120, they are not able to avoid the obvious intent of the Legislature to preempt this entire field. The UFA purports to regulate firearms and ammunition in the Commonwealth whether a person is using, brandishing, carrying or loading them.”
Bass, Seaburg, The Second Amendment Foundation and The National Rifle Association v. City of Edmonds.
In 2018 the City of Edmonds, WA passed an ordinance to regulate how firearms must be stored within the city. The plaintiffs filed suit alleging that the “state of Washington has exclusive right to regulate the possession of firearms.” On Oct. 18 Judge Anita Farris ruled the ordinance “impermissibly regulates firearms in violation” of Washington’s 36-year-old preemption law. The City of Edmonds announced it will appeal.
City of Missoula v. Timothy C. Fox:
In 2016 the city of Missoula passed an ordinance requiring background checks between all firearms purchases from private unlicensed sellers. In January 2017 Timothy C. Fox, Montana Attorney General, issued an opinion that the ordinance was not enforceable due to the Montana preemption statutes. The city then went to court stating that the AG opinion was erroneous. On October 11, 2018 Judge Robert “Dusty” Deschamps rejected the Attorney General’s ruling stating that Fox’s opinion “deprives Missoula of its own authority.” That decision was appealed to the Montana Supreme Court. The Montana Supreme Court has now ruled 5-0 in favor of AG Tim Fox’s opinion and remanded the case back to the Superior Court to find in favor of the Attorney General.
N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inv. v. City of New York, New York.
This case is scheduled for the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) and the issue is: “Whether New York City’s ban on transporting a licensed, locked and unloaded handgun to a home or shooting range outside city limits is consistent with the Second Amendment, the commerce clause and the constitutional right to travel.” SCOTUS has set the date for argument before the Court for Dec. 2, 2019. In January 2019 the Court agreed to hear this case. This set into motion a frenzied effort by New York City (NYC) officials not only to change their firearms regulations but to change state law. The hope by New York officials was that SCOTUS would then dismiss the case because it would no longer be moot. On October 7 SCOTUS issued an order from their private conference in early October: “The Respondent’s Suggestion of Mootness is denied. The question of mootness will be subject to further consideration at oral argument, and the parties should be prepared to discuss it.”
National Rifle Association of America, v. City and County of San Francisco, et. al
The National Rifle Association (NRA) filed a federal lawsuit against the City and County of San Francisco which passed a resolution declaring the NRA to be a “domestic terrorist organization.” Given the new information that the Mayor of San Francisco London Breed, has written a memo which states, “Unless or until the Board of Supervisors enacts an ordinance…no department will take steps…to restrict any contractor from doing business with the NRA or to restrict City contracting opportunities for any business that has any relationship with the NRA,” it is highly possible that this lawsuit will be moot.
State of Florida, et al, vs. City of Weston, Florida, Dan Daley, et al.
This lawsuit was brought by 20 counties against the 2011 change in state law that allowed penalties to be assessed against municipalities that violated Florida’s 1987 preemption law. On July 26, 2019 Leon County Circuit Judge Charles Dodson of the Florida First District Court of Appeals ruled that “legislative immunity” protected government officials from being sued for their decisions. According to the Tampa Bay Times, Attorney General Ashley Moody filed a notice to appeal this ruling that puts the Dodson decision on hold. Nikki Fried, the newly elected Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Service — the department that handles Florida Right-to-Carry Permit issuance —stated that Moody’s appeal “is a waste of taxpayer money.”
State Legislation
All 50 state legislatures were in session in 2019.
The following states are still in session:
Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin
California:
The Legislature has adjourned.
Florida:
After the tragedy at Marjory Stoneham Douglas High School in Broward County, FL in 2018, Sheriff Scott Israel was blamed by many for the inaction of his deputy during the shooting. As a result, Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended Israel in January 2019. At first Israel filed a lawsuit against Gov. DeSantis to regain his position. After his lawsuit was thrown out of Broward Circuit Court he appealed to the Florida Senate that has the power to remove or reinstate elected officials. After an investigation and then a hearing before the Senate Rules Committee, the Senate voted 25-15 to remove Israel from his position as Sheriff.
The Sarasota County school board has decided to get into the business of promoting gun policy with a resolution requesting that Congress ban firearms. According to The Gun Writer, such a resolution is not allowed under Florida’s preemption statute.
Illinois:
A Veto Session is still in session and the legislature may consider any of the gun control bills currently pending. SB1966, adding many more restrictive provisions to the FOID cards and giving bureaucracy almost unlimited powers, passed the House 62-52. It now goes back to the Senate for consideration. Other bills under consideration: SB337 will create an electronic firearms transfer form that will lead to an electronic firearms registry. HB1467, to require the registration of all ammunition sales; SB107, a comprehensive ban on firearms and accessories; HB174, set requirement for reporting of firearms loss or theft; HB888, require FOID applicants to list social media accounts; revoke FOID cards if guns are reported lost in 3 incidents in 2 years; and HB892, ban firearms that include modern materials. SB44, a bill with just a title, by Sen. Michael Hastings, has just had an amendment (Senate Amendment 1 to SB44) added to have State Police designate “gun liaison officers” that would have the authority to seize Firearm Owner Identification Cards (FOID) and then seize all ammunition and firearms.
Massachusetts:
The Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security held a hearing on firearms legislation. The list of bills that were on the agenda can be found at https://malegislature.gov/Events/Hearings/Detail/3247. The list includes over 40 anti-gun bills. When the committee will meet to make recommendations has not been scheduled.
Michigan:
HB4434, reducing the penalty for those that forgot to renew their Right-to-Carry Permits to a civil fine rather that a felony, passed the House 90-19.
New Hampshire:
A carry-over bill, HB687, allowing firearms seizure without due process is scheduled to be was voted out by the House Criminal Justice and Publilc Safety Committee and now it will be voted upon by the full House.
Ohio:
HB178, a constitutional carry bill, was approved in the House Federalism Committee on June 26. It has been re-referred to the Criminal Justice and Rules and Reference Committees on June 28 and June 30. In the past year 69,375 new carry licenses and almost 100,000 renewals were issued.
Pennsylvania:
SB 147, a Sunday hunting bill, passed the House on October 30. This bill allows Sunday hunting on one Sunday for deer rifle season, deer archery season and one day “as determined by the commission.” Since the bill takes effect 90 days after it is signed into law, Sunday hunting will not take effect until the 2020 hunting season.
