A Victory In The Courts Nixes Gun Ban

GOA wins battle in San Francisco courts!
— Thanks contributors to the Foundation for making battles like this possible

Good news out of California!

Yesterday, San Francisco Superior Court Judge James Warren overturned voter-approved Measure H, a city ordinance that banned the private possession of handguns and the sale of all firearms in the city.

Gun Owners of America — and Gun Owners Foundation along with Gun Owners of California — underwrote the costs of filing a friend of the court (amicus) brief by the founder of Gun Owners, California state Sen. H.L. Richardson (ret.).

Sen. Richardson’s amicus brief was important in this case because, while in his service in the California Senate, he sponsored the law that prohibits what the voters of San Francisco recently did. California state law preempts, thanks to Richardson, any local measures banning or registering firearms.

Gun Owners is thankful that the courts did not disregard the preemption law Richardson enacted. We all know that courts frequently have a problem following the law and seeking guidance from the record of those who made the law.

Richardson’s preemption law has been upheld in previous cases, so with the obvious meaning of the law and the history of judicial rulings supporting it, prospects for overturning the plebiscite looked good.

Victory in court now frees the 42 percent of San Franciscans who voted against violating a constitutional right to own a handgun in the city. Unhappily it is for practical purposes impossible to get a concealed carry permit there, so, lots of luck when venturing forth from one’s San Francisco dwelling. Unless, that is, you are someone important such as Mrs. Gun Ban, a.k.a. Sen. Diane Feinstein.

The city has already announced it will appeal the ruling, even though S.F. Mayor Gavin Newsome has reportedly said that this effort was contrary to state law. Interestingly, the San Francisco Police Officers Association opposed the ban, saying the law nullified “the personal choice of city residents to possess a handgun for self-defense purposes.”

GOA would like to thank all of those who have contributed to Gun Owners Foundation, which makes lawsuits like this possible. Gun Owners Foundation is part of the Combined Federal Campaign — Agency Number 1054.