Good News on Handguns: Transfer Ban is Unconstitutional

Friends, I shared this important and good news with another group of concerned citizens the other day and I got such an overwhelming number of thank you notes from folks who hadn’t heard about this that I immediately realized I needed to share it with you.

And, if you believe in the U.S. Constitution and specifically the Second Amendment, I think you’ll agree that this is good news.

Unfortunately, I doubt you’d ever hear about this from the mainstream media, so I want to share this.

Fortunately, it was covered by the good folks over at Reason Magazine.

A federal judge in Texas has declared that the Federal Interstate Handgun Transfer Ban is unconstitutional.

Not only is this another in a series of victories for those of us who cherish the Second Amendment; it is a victory for those of us who don’t like paying a Federal Firearms License holder (FFL) a fee for nothing more than the transfer of a handgun from one state to another.

Yes, I realize that this ruling will probably be appealed by the government. But, it’s another step in the right direction and I feel relatively confident that the decision will be upheld if appealed. I’ll keep an eye out for any appeals and I will keep you informed if anything changes.

In the meantime, for a brief report on the decision, see: “Federal Judge Strikes Down Federal Interstate Handgun Transfer Ban.”

Here are a few important snippets from the article:

“In a major victory today for Second Amendment advocates, Judge Reed O’Connor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division, declared the federal interstate handgun transfer ban to be unconstitutional.

“’The federal interstate handgun transfer ban is unique compared to other firearms restrictions because it does not target certain people(such as felons or the mentally ill), conduct (such as carrying firearms into government buildings or schools), or distinctions among certain classes of firearms (such as fully automatic weapons or magazine capacity). Instead,’ Judge O’Connor wrote in Mance v. Holder, ‘the federal interstate handgun transfer ban targets the entire national market of handgun sales and directly burdens law-abiding, responsible citizens who seek to complete otherwise lawful transactions for handguns.’

“According to Judge O’Connor, this approach not only infringes on the core scope of the Second Amendment, it fails to permissibly advance a legitimate government interest while doing so. The Obama administration, he wrote, has ‘not shown that the federal interstate handgun transfer ban is narrowly tailored to be the least restrictive means of achieving the Government’s goals under current law. The federal interstate handgun transfer ban is therefore unconstitutional on its face.’”

And, as the author of the article correctly notes, there is a champion of liberty at the heart of this case who was also involved in the all-important and ground-breaking Heller case.

“The architect of today’s win was the civil rights lawyer Alan Gura, who argued and won the case and who previously argued and won Heller at the Supreme Court. Gura’s pathbreaking legal work continues to expand the Second Amendment liberties of all Americans.” [emphasis added]

If you’d like to read the entire opinion, it is Mance v. Holder.

I love delivering good news!!

Do you agree? Is this good news?

Email me at [email protected] and share your thoughts.

Be safe, secure and free!

Rob Douglas – Former Washington DC Private Detective and Strict Constitutionalist