Brady Center Attorneys File Suit to Stop Guns in Parks

The Brady Center's Legal Action Project filed a complaint in federal court asking the court to strike down a last-minute Bush Administration rule change that allows concealed, loaded firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges.

The suit was filed on behalf of the Brady Campaign and its members, including school teachers in the New York and Washington, D.C. areas who are canceling or curtailing school trips to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty and the National Mall in Washington, D.C due to the Bush Administration's rule change.

Brady Center President, Paul Helmke, said in a statement, "The Bush Administration's last-minute gift to the gun lobby, allowing concealed semiautomatic weapons in national parks, jeopardizes the safety of park visitors in violation of federal law."

15th Anniversary Report Highlights Success of Brady Background Checks

President Clinton signed the Brady bill into law fifteen years ago on November 30, 1993.

Since Brady background checks went into effect in February 1994, every day, more than 300 attempts by dangerous people to purchase a gun have been blocked. During the same time period, gun crimes declined sharply.

Brady background checks have contributed to the decline in gun crime by making it harder for dangerous people like felons, domestic violence offenders, and fugitives from justice to purchase guns at gun dealers.

U.S. Supreme Court Should Reject Attempt to Weaken Law On Gun Possession By Domestic Violence Abusers

The U.S. Supreme Court is considering the case, United States v. Hayes, that attempts to weaken the federal ban on gun possession by convicted domestic violence abusers.

The federal Lautenberg Amendment prohibits abusers convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence from possessing firearms. The 4th Circuit of Appeals overturned a wife beater's conviction for illegal gun possession, allowing him to own guns.

If the lower court ruling is affirmed, thousands of domestic violence abusers could be re-armed, jeopardizing family members and law enforcement officers called to address domestic violence.

U.S. Supreme Court Decision May Lead to Stronger Gun Laws

The U.S. Supreme Court's Second Amendment decision in D.C. v Heller may have the "unintended consequence" of helping to enact stronger gun laws, according to a report issued by the Brady Center.

In June, the Justices disagreed by the narrowest of margins, 5 - 4, on whether the Second Amendment provides an individual, non-militia based right to bear arms. All nine Justices agreed, however, that a wide variety of gun laws are presumptively constitutional, including restrictions on carrying concealed weapons, guns in schools and other sensitive places, and bans on "dangerous and unusual" weapons.

While the decision gives criminal defendants a legal tool to use to potentially avoid criminal convictions or mitigate their punishments and will inspire the gun lobby to challenge gun laws, it may also clear some of the wedge politics that have blocked the nation from passing sensible gun laws in the future, the report says.

Law Enforcement and Communities Less Safe
Since Expiration of Assault Weapons Ban

A recently released Brady Center report entitled, Mass Produced Mayhem, highlights how the availability of assault weapons has changed the balance of power between law enforcement and criminals, endangering police officers and communities. At least 15 police officers have been killed and 23 wounded since the ban expired in September 2004.

Brady President Paul Helmke said that "Our communities are less safe today than they were four years ago, when devastating weapons like AK-47s were not readily available to thugs and other dangerous people." Helmke urged policy makers to take action immediately to get military-style assault weapons off our streets.

The Brady report notes that Senator Barack Obama said in his convention acceptance speech that we should keep assault weapons out of the hands of criminals. Senator John McCain has opposed a ban on assault weapons.

Brady Center Hails Court Ruling Blocking Domestic Abusers From Getting Guns

The Brady Center applauds a recent decision that upheld a federal trial court ruling blocking a Wyoming law that would allow convicted domestic violence abusers to possess firearms. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled as the Brady Center had urged in its amicus brief in Wyoming v. United States, prohibiting the state from implementing its law to rearm domestic violence abusers

Brady Center Takes Alaska Dealer to Court for Supplying Rifle to Criminal Murderer

The Brady Center has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the family of Simone Young Kim, who was shot and killed while working in Juneau, Alaska. The killer, Jason Coday, was a fugitive from justice and a methamphetamine user who was prohibited from buying or possessing guns, yet he was able to walk out of Rayco Sales gun shop with a rifle without being subjected to a background check. Two days later Coday used the gun to kill Kim, a total stranger.

The lawsuit, filed along with Mark C. Choate of Juneau, contends that the gun dealer is liable for Kim's death for negligently and potentially illegally providing the rifle to the shooter.

Brady Center Takes Utah Dealer to Court for Selling Pistol Grip Shotgun to 18 Year Old Mass Shooter

The Brady Center Legal Action Project has taken a new case, representing Carolyn Tuft, a mother whose daughter was killed in a mass shooting at a popular shopping mall in Salt Lake City, Utah. The killer, armed with two high-powered firearms, a backpack full of ammunition, and a bandolier of shotgun shells around his waist, turned the mall into a war zone in a matter of minutes. Five people were killed, and four wounded, including an off-duty police officer.

The lawsuit contends that the gun dealer is liable for the shootings. One of the firearms he sold to the killer was a pistol-grip shotgun, which federal law prohibits from selling to anyone under 21. The killer was 18 at the time.

	1/5/2009
Brady Campaign Sues Interior Department Over Rule Allowing Concealed Guns In Parks, Will Seek Injunction Christmas Eve Massacre: Statement from Paul Helmke Pennsylvania Sheriff Seeks Dismissal Of $1 Million Federal Lawsuit Brought By Woman Who Took Loaded Firearm To Kid's Soccer Game Next Interior Secretary Should Rescind Bush Rule Allowing Concealed Guns In Parks More News from the Brady Center	The New Second Amendment: A Bark Worse Than Its Right (Huffington Post) Suit challenges national parks gun rule (Washington Times) Editorial: Restore firearms ban in national parks: Administration uses waning days to pander to the NRA (Miami Herald) Group sues to reinstate firearms ban (Associated Press) More Issues in the news

Dec. 30, 2008 - Brady Campaign Sues Interior Department Over Rule Allowing Concealed Guns In Parks, Will Seek Injunction Dec. 26, 2008 - Christmas Eve Massacre: Statement from Paul Helmke Dec. 26, 2008 - Pennsylvania Sheriff Seeks Dismissal Of $1 Million Federal Lawsuit Brought By Woman Who Took Loaded Firearm To Kid's Soccer Game Read More