Fairfax, Va. – Today, the National Rifle Association filed a petition for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of NRA v. Chicago. The NRA strongly disagrees with yesterday's decision issued by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, holding that the Second Amendment does not apply to state and local governments.
“The Seventh Circuit got it wrong. As the Supreme Court said in last year's landmark Heller decision, the Second Amendment is an individual right that ‘belongs to all Americans'. Therefore, we are taking our case to the highest court in the land,” said Chris W. Cox, NRA chief lobbyist. “The Seventh Circuit claimed it was bound by precedent from previous decisions. However, it should have followed the lead of the recent Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Nordyke v. Alameda County, which found that those cases don't prevent the Second Amendment from applying to the states through the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.”
This Seventh Circuit opinion upholds current bans on the possession of handguns in Chicago and Oak Park, Illinois.
“It is wrong that the residents of Chicago and Oak Park continue to have their Second Amendment rights denied,” Cox concluded. “It’s time for the fundamental right of self-defense to be respected by every jurisdiction throughout our country.”
Given the speed at which the NRA filed its appeal, the NRA likely expected the Seventh Circuit to rule against them and uphold the Chicago gun ban, and thus prepared its Supreme Court certiorari petition ahead of time, so that as soon as the Seventh Circuit ruling came down, they could finalize the cert. petition and get it filed with the high court.
We'll have to wait and see if the Supremes decide to grant cert and hear the NRA's appeal.
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