POLITICS - Heller Used To Ban Importation Of MilitaryWeapons

[AmBraCol]

Gun Rights Alert
Lower Court uses Heller Decision to uphold BATFE ban on imported weapons
In one of the first lower court rulings since the Supreme Court handed down the weakly-worded Heller Decision, a government restriction on firearms has been upheld.

Steven Mullenix, a federal firearms licensee (FFL), was denied permission to import German WWII replica rifles by the notoriously anti-gun Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE). The BATFE used arguments from the 1968 Gun Control Act to argue that the replica BD-44 held no "sporting purpose" and therefore Mr. Mullenix could not legally import them.

In return Mullenix sued the BATFE for infringing upon his right to keep and bear arms, calling their ruling "arbitrary and capricious."

Just a few short days after the Supreme Court ruled on the Heller Case -- the supposed victory for the Second Amendment -- the North Carolina Circuit Court used Justice Scalia's own words to uphold the BATFE's restriction on firearms importation.

The lower court agreed with the BATFE's findings that the firearms Mr. Mullenix wanted to import were not "generally recognized as particularly suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes."

They went on to restate the Heller Decision language that the Second Amendment wasn't unlimited, and that the government has the right to restrict or ban any type of firearm, stating that the right only applies to certain types of firearms.

Clearly, the ripples of the Heller Decision will be felt for years to come. Unfortunately we can only speculate on the future unintended consequences of this weak decision.

This much we do know: the Heller Decision is far from a victory for gun owners. It is already being used successfully to infringe upon the rights of gun owners across the county.

Read the full lower court ruling in Mullenix v. BATFE here.
http://dl1.activatedirect.com/fs/d:l/x8 ... i2zjkown/1

For all the latest Heller Decision related news, click here: http://www.nationalgunrights.org/truthaboutheller.shtml

[homefront]

I hope Mullenix will appeal.

[JReed]

I hope he appeals as well. If the Heller case was to vague for SCOTUS maybe we need more cases to be brought up so they can reach a decision that is worth a darn.

[TCB in TN]

Heller only said sport purposes were PART of what was covered by the 2nd. This lower court justice might outta have his reading comprehension skills checked! And when scalia mentioned common use not sporting use.

[Tycer]

I believe Mr. Brown (who is probably the author of Paul's post), is disappointed that the Heller case was so narrow. Sure, it would have been nice to have carte blanche to own whatever by whoever where ever, but we all know that if a case were to be taken to SCOTUS demanding that, it would never fly.

The Heller case was designed as a small step to get SCOTUS to declare the second amendment an individual right and NOT the collective right that the 9th Circuit and others, including law schools, have been touting. In my opinion Mr. Brown is wrong, the Heller case is a HUGE victory. The 9th Circuit can no longer call the second a collective right, the law books must be changed to reflect that it is an individual right, the professors must teach that it is an individual right. Huge. Huge. Huge.

There are already hundreds of cases filed challenging illegal gun laws. Many of those will be lost in the lower courts. But the ones that win and the ones that make it to SCOTUS will continue to strengthen future cases to restore our stolen rights. Of course the antis are going to try to use the Heller case as defense of their laws. That may fly in the lower courts, and many cases may not make it to SCOTUS. But the big ones will and the second will survive.

This has been a decades old fight and we have decades of fight ahead of us. The Heller case is just a baby step in the restoration of our stolen rights and it's going to take thousands of baby steps before we are even close to repairing the damage done by thousands of cases and laws previously won on false law.

We must continue to join all shooters together on all fronts and not allow our non-use, or dislike of one type of firearm jade us into thinking that an attack on that type of firearm is not a direct attack on us. Any attack on any gun or gun right is an attack on all gun owners, no matter the object of the attack.

Donate to the Second Amendment Foundation. http://www.saf.org . Encourage all your friends to also. Join the NRA, it ain't perfect, but it is the big dog, join the Jews http://www.jpfo.org, join Mr. Brown http://www.nationalgunrights.org, listen to Tom Gresham http://www.guntalk.com . Take a new shooter to the range.

Do something.

[FWiedner]

+1 Tycer.

The RIGHT has been acknowledged, and now begins the tedious work of dragging the stone back up the hill while our opponents continue to try to pull it down.

[Andrew]

The RIGHT has been acknowledged, and now begins the tedious work of dragging the stone back up the hill while our opponents continue to try to pull it down.

Yep.

[Ysabel Kid]

The RIGHT has been acknowledged, and now begins the tedious work of dragging the stone back up the hill while our opponents continue to try to pull it down.

Yep.

+ - what are we up to? - 4?!

The war will never be over, but Heller was a battle we won!

[donw]

the heller decision did indeed affirm our right to own fireams but...as is stated, it did open the gates to a flood of "reasonable control" legislation...it's my fear that legislators are just beginning to turn on us worse than ever using the heller decision as a club to whip us with.

never, ever, trust a legislator or court to make the best, correct, or moral, decision...