The Second Amendment Foundation has filed a federal lawsuit challenging New York state and municipal laws prohibiting private citizens from possessing and using stun guns and tasers, noting in its complaint, “Most courts have found that bans on stun guns and tasers violate the Second Amendment and are unconstitutional.”
Joining SAF are the Firearms Policy Coalition, Inc., and three private citizens, Nunzio Calce, Shaya Greenfield and Raymond Pezzoli. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Plaintiffs are represented by attorney David Jensen of Beacon, N.Y. The case is known as Calce, et.al. v. City of New York, et. al.
Named as defendants are the City of New York and Police Commissioner Dermot Shea.
“As we explain in our complaint, states and localities have some ability to regulate the keeping and bearing of arms,” noted SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “However, the Second Amendment prevents states and localities from flatly prohibiting law-abiding citizens from keeping bearable arms, and particularly arms that are in common use for the purpose of self-defense.”
As noted in the 10-page federal complaint, all four of the individual citizens participating in this legal action reside in neighborhoods within the City of New York.
The lawsuit asserts, “Supreme Court vacated a conviction under a Massachusetts law that—like the New York State and City laws at issue here—flatly prohibited the possession of stun guns. Since then, most courts have found that bans on stun guns and tasers violate the Second Amendment and are unconstitutional… Notwithstanding this, the City of New York continues to enforce the State and City laws that prohibit the possession of stun guns and tasers. Among other things, the City and Commissioner Shea continue to train officers that stun guns and tasers are illegal under State and City law and to instruct them to bring charges against individuals found in possession of them.”
“New York City has traditionally labored to keep its honest citizens defenseless,” Gottlieb observed, “with its extremist gun control laws and by enforcing a prohibition on non-lethal defensive weapons as well. What are people to do when they are prevented by the government from having the tools necessary to fight back against violent attackers?
“After all,” he added, “it is bad enough for citizens to face having to fight criminals, but it is worse when they have to fight their own government just to exercise their right of self-defense. Good people should not fear being prosecuted for simply having a defensive tool for personal protection. But the law does not allow it, and this must be challenged.”
