By Dave Workman | Editor-in-Chief
A coalition of Second Amendment organizations have filed an 18-page federal complaint against Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker in U.S. District Court, alleging the governor has overstepped his authority by ordering gun shops closed in the Commonwealth during the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the lawsuit, filed by the Second Amendment Foundation, Firearms Policy Coalition, Commonwealth Second Amendment, Inc. (Comm2A) and several others, “The exigencies surrounding this viral pandemic both justify and necessitate changes in the manner in which people live their lives and conduct their daily business. However, this emergency—like any other emergency—has its constitutional limits. It would not justify a prior restraint on speech, nor a suspension of the right to vote. Just the same, it does not justify a ban on obtaining guns and ammunition.”
The federal lawsuit is just the latest court action involving SAF and other gun rights groups, and Gottlieb told Liberty Park Press more actions are likely to come soon.
Joining SAF in this action are Commonwealth Second Amendment, Inc. (Comm2A), the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC), plus retailers and private citizens. The case is known as McCarthy v. Baker. Attorneys in this case are J. Steven Foley of Worcester, Jason A. Guida of Saugus and David Jensen of Beacon, N.Y.
The lawsuit is supported by the Massachusetts Gun Owners Action League (GOAL), although GOAL is not a plaintiff in the case.
“It is our pleasure to collectively work with the entities involved in this important court action,” said Jim Wallace, executive director of the Massachusetts Gun Owners Action League. “Since the beginning of the fight against COVID-19, the Baker Administration has launched a systematic campaign against our Second Amendment civil rights. It is imperative we ensure our civil rights and systems of checks and balances on our government are protected, especially during times of crisis.”
Wallace is quoted by Ammoland News, explaining how his organization has had difficulty with Gov. Baker almost since he took office. While GOAL has tried to work with the Baker administration, it has not been successful.
“Closing gun stores and preventing citizens from exercising their Second Amendment rights is not the way to fight a viral pandemic,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “How ironic that rights groups must take the governor of Massachusetts to court over a Second Amendment issue as the 245th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord approaches. Government gun control is precisely the reason our ancestors stood together on April 19, 1775, and the Baker administration should seriously re-think its position.”
“State and local governments cannot suspend the Constitution and its guarantee of fundamental human rights,” FPC President Brandon Combs added. “Massachusetts has again gone out of its way to prevent individuals from exercising their right to keep and bear arms when they want and need to most. But the Second Amendment is not a second-class right. We are proud to fight for the rights of Bay Staters alongside our friends and fellow plaintiffs in this case.”
“It’s sad that rather than devoting their full attention to addressing this serious public health emergency, the Baker administration is treating this crisis as an opportunity to set the precedent for suspend constitutional rights that they oppose,” Brent Carlton with Comm2A observed. “The Baker administration can no more block exercise of the Second Amendment by preventing Massachusetts residents from purchasing firearms than the Trump administration can limit the First Amendment by closing the New York Times or CNN.”
“It is disheartening to see one of our original freedom fighter colonies decide to take a page from General Thomas Gage,” said Adam Kraut, FPC’s Director of Legal Strategy. “During the Massachusetts ratifying convention, Samuel Adams proposed an amendment guaranteeing that the constitution would not prevent peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms. Yet, the modern day Massachusetts government seeks to do just that. There is no COVID-19 exception in the Constitution, and even this crisis has constitutional limits.”
“President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency doesn’t put our Constitution on hold,” Gottlieb said when the state shut-down orders began coming from governors, some of whom have been sued and changed their positions.
Many gun owners believe the right to keep and bear arms may become increasingly important the longer the COVID-19 lockdown continues, as burglaries are beginning to skyrocket. Most burglaries have involved restaurants, but in Tacoma, Wash., the crime wave has taken a turn for the worse as someone attempted to burglarize a popular gun store.
This incident only underscores another paragraph in the Massachusetts lawsuit.
“The need for personal self-defense is most acute during times of uncertainty and crisis,” the complaint says, “when law enforcement services may not be available or may not be reliably available, and when (as now) criminal offenders may be released from custody or may be less likely to be taken into custody in the first place. It is precisely times like these that the Plaintiffs and the Plaintiffs’ members need to be able to exercise their fundamental rights to keep and bear arms.”
In one of their continuing alarmist email blasts warning against keeping gun stores open during the coronavirus emergency, Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety lobbying organization declares, “A flood of guns at this precarious moment of economic decline and social isolation compounds the risks of death and serious injury during this incredibly stressful time.”
While the country appears to be starting to recover a bit from the pandemic panic—Wall Street is showing some recovery—this situation is far from over, so concerns about personal and family safety, and the necessity of defending Second Amendment-protected rights, seem justified to lots of people who are still going to gun stores for firearms and ammunition.
