S.C.O.P.

E Legal Update
June 2020
Coronavirus crime worries are making New Yorkers want guns

The FBI reported a 300 percent increase in gun sales across the country in March,
compared to the same period a year ago. But New Yorkers are shut out, with the Empire
State one of only five states where gun stores have closed, despite recent guidelines issued
by the Department of Homeland Security saying they should be considered essential
business….

High-profile crimefighters past and present also foresee a long, hot, criminal summer.

“It’s going to be every man for himself again,” said Curtis Sliwa, who founded the Guardian
Angels in the infamous summer of 1977, when Son of Sam was on the loose….

“The thugs feel the fear out there. They see cops aren’t getting out of their squad cars.
That’s when bad stuff happens.”

Bernie Kerik, the police boss during 9/11, remembered how crime also dropped for three
weeks after the attacks — then it returned and spiked.

“This is different and could be worse,” Kerik said. “If this shutdown continues through
May, it’ll drive people into poverty. Many won’t qualify for government programs or
unemployment. These people have to feed their families. Meanwhile, the criminals are
emboldened.”

Former cop and private investigator Bo Dietl agreed.

https://nypost.com/2020/05/09/coronavirus-crime-worries-are-making-new-yorkers-want-
guns/

Democrat's bill would increase taxes on firearms and ammunition

H.R. 5717 would implement a 30% tax on all gun sales and 50% tax on all ammunition
sales

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/05/24/fact-check-bill-would-increase-
taxes-firearms-and-ammunition/5231813002/?fbclid=IwAR3Xpl9KgznLgy6ht3KPUT-
jl58C9EIRi-Vur6bg6cPJsFcG9QFCeP69YR8

Joe Biden’s Possible Vice-Presidential Candidates to Participate in Gun Control

Series

Women who could possibly be vice presidential candidates on the Democrat ticket with Joe
Biden will participate in an Everytown for Gun Safety gun control series beginning in late
April and spanning numerous weeks.

For information and discussion purposes only. Not intended as legal advice.
Page 1
 Everytown is a Mike Bloomberg-founded gun control group that includes Moms Demand
Action.

former Democrat gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and former Democrat

presidential hopefuls Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar, and Kamala Harris will all
take part in the series, albeit on different days.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/04/25/joe-bidens-possible-vice-presidential-
candidates-participate-gun-control-series/

Supreme Court Dismisses NYC Gun Rights Case; Conservative Justices Dissent

The Supreme Court … dismissed a case brought by three New York City handgun owners
challenging a city regulation that prohibited gun owners from transporting their firearms
outside the city.

The court agreed to hear the case in December, but the city then amended the regulation
to allow gun owners to bring firearms to other locations. The Supreme Court ruled 5-3 in
an unsigned opinion that the case was moot because the city had amended its original
regulation.

Conservative justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Neil Gorsuch wrote in their
dissent that the case should not have been dismissed.

“By incorrectly dismissing this case as moot, the Court permits our docket to be
manipulated in a way that should not be countenanced,” the justices wrote. Lawyers for
the plaintiffs had argued that the case should not be dismissed because the city changed its
regulation due to fears that the Supreme Court would use the case to restrict broader gun
control measures.

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/supreme-court-dismisses-nyc-gun-rights-case-
conservative-justices-dissent/

The Second Amendment Day of Reckoning Is About to Dawn

The same day the Supreme Court sidestepped the City of New York case, it scheduled for
conference ten pending Second Amendment cases to decide whether to grant certiorari
and hear those appeals. These cases arguably involve more important and substantial
Second Amendment issues than the City of New York case. Several of these cases challenge
restrictions on where an individual can carry a firearm outside their home. Three cases
challenge more industry-specific issues. The National Shooting Sports Foundation, the
firearm industry trade association, filed amicus briefs in support of the two plaintiffs. Those
cases include:

Mance v. Barr — a case which a Washington, D.C.-based couple is challenging the

federal interstate handgun transfer ban on Second Amendment grounds after they
were prohibited from purchasing two firearms from a Texas federal firearms
licensee without going through D.C.’s only licensed firearm retailer. NSSF’s brief
For information and discussion purposes only. Not intended as legal advice.
Page 2
 argues the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, including handguns,
does not stop at your state’s border. The federal ban on interstate handgun sales is
not narrowly tailored to the professed government compelling interest. The ban
unreasonably infringes upon the Second Amendment rights of individuals who are
otherwise qualified to purchase handguns and violates their Fourteenth
Amendment right to equal protection under the law.

Worman v. Healey — a Second Amendment challenge to Massachusetts’ ban on

commonly owned modern sporting rifles. NSSF’s amicus brief argues that lower
courts disagree on what standard of review applies and the standards articulated by
five circuit courts of appeal are unconstitutional. The First, Second, Fourth, Ninth,
and D.C. Circuits have all ruled that “intermediate scrutiny” should apply to laws
of this sort. The Seventh Circuit chose to apply the standard of which gun control
laws were in place when the Bill of Rights was ratified. NSSF argues that the
“intermediate scrutiny” standard has no grounding in the Second Amendment and
gives judges unlimited discretion to approve and disapprove firearms regulations.
NSSF further argues that lower courts are relegating the Second Amendment to a
second tier right, despite its clear and unambiguous proscription of government
overreach.

https://www.nationalreview.com/bench-memos/second-amendment-day-of-reckoning-is-about-
to-dawn/

SCOTUS Could Take Up 2 Mass. Gun Laws

Justice Brett Kavanaugh says it’s time for the U.S. Supreme Court to clarify its previous
gun rights rulings — and a challenge to Massachusetts’ public-carry law could give them
the chance to do that.

On Friday, the justices will hold their regular conference — by phone — to consider adding
cases to next term’s docket. Up for consideration: a challenge to the state’s law governing
licenses to carry firearms outside the home. That law allows local authorities to make
applicants demonstrate the need to carry a gun because they have “good reason to fear
injury to the applicant or the applicant’s property.”

That case, as well as a challenge to the state’s assault weapons and ammunition ban, had
been put on hold by the court while it considered a New York public-carry case. On
Monday, the court dismissed the New York case as moot because the law had already been
repealed.

In a concurring opinion, Kavanaugh said he shared a concern also expressed in Justice

Samuel Alito’s dissent “that some federal and state courts may not be properly applying
Heller and McDonald” — two cases that upheld individuals’ Second Amendment right to
own handguns.

https://www.wbur.org/news/2020/04/30/supreme-court-massachusetts-gun-laws-coronavirus-
relief

For information and discussion purposes only. Not intended as legal advice.
Page 3
Gun control group starts faith-driven push ahead of election

Everytown for Gun Safety, which expects to spend $60 million on this year's elections, is
forging its interfaith effort amid ongoing concerns about shootings at houses of worship.
The group's partners include representatives from Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and
Sikh backgrounds, several of them well-known progressive activists.

Among those joining Everytown’s initiative, details of which were shared with The
Associated Press ahead of its official announcement, are evangelical Shane Claiborne,
president of the group Red Letter Christians, and Rev. Traci Blackmon, a United Church
of Christ executive minister and a central member of the Black Lives Matter
movement….In addition to reaching out to clergy on gun policy issues, Schenck said, the
Everytown interfaith project would aim to educate rank-and-file faith voters about
candidates’ stances on gun matters…..

Collectively, partners in Everytown's project are planning to host at least 50 events designed
to engage Americans of faith on gun issues and promote voter registration ahead of
November's elections. The effort is particularly focused on a dozen-plus states that will
prove battlegrounds in presidential and congressional contests, including Arizona, Florida,
Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

https://www.whio.com/news/gun-control-group/YRJRN34KM52YOXGGAVN473WRAQ/

Gun control group rolls out House endorsements

Everytown for Gun Safety rolled out its first round of House endorsements on
Thursday...The 58 endorsements, which were released exclusively to The Hill, mark the
first round of the group’s $60 million electoral program.

The list includes...Jackie Gordon, who is running in New York's 2nd District; Rep. Hakeem
Jeffries (D-N.Y.); Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.); Rep. Max Rose (D-N.Y.); Rep. Carolyn
Maloney (D-N.Y.); Rep. Antonio Delgado (D-N.Y.)

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/499855-gun-control-group-rolls-out-house-
endorsements

How gun control advocates plan to make Texas a top political priority in 2020

Everytown for Gun Safety announced in February that it would spend at least $8 million
this election cycle in the state, mainly focusing on U.S. House and state House races. On
Monday, the Michael Bloomberg-backed group announced the first round of that spending
— a $250,000 digital ad campaign targeting Republicans in five key congressional races.
And on Thursday, the group is naming three staffers to help with its Texas campaign,
including two veteran Democratic operatives.

The moves set up Everytown to be one of the biggest players in down-ballot races this cycle
in Texas, outside of the Democratic and Republican party committees.

For information and discussion purposes only. Not intended as legal advice.
Page 4
https://abc7amarillo.com/news/local/how-gun-control-advocates-plan-to-make-texas-a-top-
political-priority-in-2020

Gun owners say Canadian assault weapons ban filled with holes, legal challenges
coming

The federal government's assault weapons ban, announced last week, is loaded with sloppy
language and strange omissions say some gun owners and dealers.

The ban, which was announced in response to the recent Nova Scotia shooting rampage,
prohibits the use or sale of hundreds of different semi-automatic rifles and some large
calibre guns as well.

https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/gun-owners-say-federal-assault-weapons-ban-filled-with-holes-legal-
challenges-coming-1.4930922

Canada: Gun groups warn Liberals have made common duck hunting shotguns
illegal

Legal experts have concluded Public Safety Minister Bill Blair “banned almost every
modern 12-gauge and 10-gauge shotgun in Canada with removable chokes because they
exceed the maximum bore diameter of 20 mm.”

The groups estimated there are between 1.5 – 2 million of these common hunting firearms
in Canada.

https://www.westernstandardonline.com/2020/05/gun-groups-warn-liberals-have-made-
common-hunting-rifles-illegal/

Report: Shooter in Canadian Massacre Was Prohibited from Gun Possession

The New York Post reports the attacker who carried out the April 18-19, 2020, mass
shooting in Nova Scotia was prohibited from possessing firearms.

According to the Post, the shooter was ” was ordered to receive counseling for anger
management after pleading guilty to assaulting a man in the Halifax area on Oct. 29,
2001.” And just before the trial began, the shooter entered a “guilty plea” and “was placed
on probation for nine months, fined $50 and told to stay away from the man.”

The shooter was “also prohibited from owning or possessing a weapon, ammunition or
explosive substances.”

https://www.newsbreak.com/news/0Ovjzc9o/report-shooter-in-canadian-massacre-was-
prohibited-from-gun-possession

For information and discussion purposes only. Not intended as legal advice.
Page 5