Second Amendment cases moving through the courts today will establish the parameters of the right to keep and bear arms for future generations. The Second Amendment Law Center is now at the front lines of those historic battles in states across the country. Below is a list of the lawsuits in which the 2ALC legal team has filed amicus briefs on behalf of various strategic partners who support 2ALC’s mission.
Case Name: United States of America v. Gabriel Cowan Metcalf
Case Number: 24-4818
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Date Filed: 12/6/2024
Case Name: Garry Matthews v. City of Los Angeles
Case Number: 23-3874
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Date Filed: 10/16/2024
Document Description: Brief of Amici Curiae California Rifle & Pistol Association, Second Amendment Law Center, Inc., Second Amendment Foundation, and Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus in Support of Appellant and Reversal
Description: This case concerns three Plaintiffs who are suing Los Angeles over what they allege are unconstitutional arrests for carrying a firearm without a permit, as the arrests happened before Bruen when the City was not issuing permits to regular citizens. As one of the Plaintiffs is a nonresident from Tennessee, our brief focused on the lack of any historical tradition to support requiring nonresidents to get a CCW permit from California before carrying in the state.
Case Name: David Snope v. Anthony Brown, Attorney General of Maryland
Case Number: 24-203
Court: United States Supreme Court
Date Filed: 9/23/2024
Description: Challenge to Maryland “Assault Weapon” Ban. Our amicus brief argued in support of Petitioners and for reversal of the Fourth Circuit’s En Banc ruling upholding Maryland’s ban on common rifles, pointing out that the Second Amendment has traditionally protected bearable arms commonly used by the military as well, so long as they are not only used by the military.
Case Name: United States of America v. Ayala
Case Number: 24-10462
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
Date Filed: 9/23/2024
Description: Criminal defendant, a postal worker, charged with illegally carrying a firearm in a post office. Our amicus brief argued that there is no historical tradition supporting banning firearm carry in post offices, and the district court ruling in Ayala’s favor should be affirmed.
Case Name: Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Dean F. Donnell, Jr.
Case Number: SJC-13561
Court: Commonwealth of Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Date Filed: 7/30/2024
Description: Donnell, a New Hampshire resident, was charged with carrying in Massachusetts without a permit issued by that state. Our amicus brief argued that there is no historical tradition of forcing visitors from other states to seek permission before exercising their right to carry.
Case Name: United States of America v. Allam
Case Number: 24-40065
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Date Filed: 7/19/2024
Document Description: Brief of Amici Curiae Second Amendment Law Center, Inc., California Rifle & Pistol Association, and Second Amendment Foundation in Support of Appellant and Reversal
Description: Allam was arrested while living out of his van while possessing a firearm, because he was parked near a school. Our amicus brief argued that the Gun Free School Zones Act is facially unconstitutional due to the lack of historical tradition of barring carry in large zones around a place, even if that place is deemed sensitive.
Case Name: Nguyen v. Bonta
Case Number: 24-2036
Court: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Date Filed: 6/4/2024
Document Description: Amicus Brief of California Rifle & Pistol Association, Second Amendment Law Center, and Operation Blazing Sword-Pink Pistols in Support of Appellees and Affirmance
Description: Challenge to California’s limit of purchasing one firearm every 30 days. Our amicus brief argued that the State should be held to the “distinctly similar” standard, and that there is no history to support limiting firearm purchases in this way.
Case Name: United States v. Kittson
Case Number: 23-4132
Court: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Date Filed: 5/17/2024
Document Description: Amicus Brief of California Rifle & Pistol Association, Incorporated, Second Amendment Law Center, Inc., and The Second Amendment Foundation in Support of Neither Party and Reversal or Remand
Description: Criminal case concerning machine gun possession. Our amicus brief argued in favor of neither party, instead focusing on the fact that the district court improperly skipped the Bruen analysis altogether. Whatever the history, machine guns are at least “arms” under the Second Amendment, so a full historical analysis is required.
Case Name: Antonyuk v. James
Case Number: 23-910
Court: Supreme Court of the United States
Date Filed: 3/25/2024
Description: This was an amicus brief in support of a cert petition by challengers to New York’s expansive “sensitive places” laws. The Supreme Court ultimately remanded the case following its decision in Rahimi.
Case Name: Garland v. Cargill
Case Number: 23-976
Court: Supreme Court of the United States
Date Filed: 1/26/2024
Description: This case concerned the bump stock ban. While it was not a Second Amendment challenge and instead concerned the Administrative Procedures Act and the scope of the ATF’s authority, our amicus brief reminded the Court of the implications for the Second Amendment if the ATF is allowed to so easily redefine what constitutes an illegal “machine gun”.
Case Name: Wolford v. Lopez
Case Number: 23-16164
Court: U. S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Date Filed: 11/9/2023
Description: This is a civil case challenging Hawaii’s expansive new “sensitive places” law that bans carry everywhere save for streets and sidewalks, as well as the few businesses willing to affirmatively allow carry. We explained how that law is unconstitutional and out of step with Bruen.
Case Name: Maryland Shall Issue, Inc. v. Montgomery County, Maryland
Case Number: 23-1719
Court: U. S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
Date Filed: 8/23/2023
Description: This is a civil case challenging Montgomery County’s expansive new “sensitive places” law that bans carry in most public places. We explained how that law is unconstitutional and out of step with Bruen.
Case Name: Delaware State Sportsmen’s Association, Inc. v. Delaware Department of Homeland Security
Case Number: 23-1641
Court: U. S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Date Filed: 7/10/2023
Document Description: Amicus Brief of Gun Owners of America, Inc., Second Amendment Law Center, California Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc., Gun Owners of California, Second Amendment Defense & Education Coalition, Guns Save Life, Federal Firearms Licensees of Illinois, & Gun Owners Foundation
Description: Challenge to Delaware “Assault Weapon” Ban. Our amicus brief argued that the district court wrongly held that the relevant historical tradition does not justify the State’s ban on common firearms and magazines.
Case Name: Barnett v. Raoul
Case Number: 23-209
Court: U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois
Date Filed: 4/5/2023
Document Description: Amicus Brief of Second Amendment Law Center
Description: Challenge to Illinois “Assault Weapon” Ban. Our amicus brief argued that the appropriate time period to determine original public understanding of the Second Amendment is 1791, when the bill of rights was adopted.
Case Name: Junior Sports Magazines, Inc. v. Rob Bonta
Case Number: 22-56090
Court: U. S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Date Filed: 12/27/2022
Document Description: Amicus Brief of the Second Amendment Law Center, Jews for the Preservation of Firearm Ownership, and Citizens' Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms in Support of Plaintiffs-Appellants
Description: Challenge to expansive California law banning advertising of firearms to minors, which had the effect of ending youth sports shooting programs (because they are possible through gun industry sponsorships). Our amicus brief explained how these restrictions violate the First Amendment.
Case Name: New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen
Case Number: 20-843
Court: Supreme Court of the United States
Date Filed: 7/20/2021
Document Description: Amicus Brief of California Rifle & Pistol Association, Incorporated and Second Amendment Law Center, Inc. in Support of Petitioners
Description: This was the first major Second Amendment case in the Supreme Court since McDonald. Our amicus brief discussed the plight of the Second Amendment under the interest balancing test lower courts had been applying, particularly in the Ninth Circuit, where every gun law was upheld.
Case Name: Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs v. Grewal
Case Number: 20-1507
Court: Supreme Court of the United States
Date Filed: 5/08/2021
Document Description: Amicus Brief of California Rifle & Pistol Association, Incorporated, Gun Owners of California, and Second Amendment Law Center in Support of Petitioners
Description: Challenge to New Jersey ban on magazines over ten rounds, with challengers seeking Supreme Court review. Our amicus brief urged the Court to grant that review because the erosion of the Second Amendment in hostile Circuit Courts had gone on long enough. We invoked our own challenge to California’s similar law, Duncan v. Bonta.
Case Name: Caniglia v. Strom
Case Number: 20-157
Court: Supreme Court of the United States
Date Filed: 1/14/2021
Document Description: Amicus Brief of Second Amendment Law Center, Inc., California Rifle & Pistol Association, and Gun Owners of California in Support of Petitioner
Description: This First Circuit case asked whether the “community caretaking” exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement extends to the home. Our amicus brief warned that applying the caretaking function to the home will be used as a pretext to conduct warrantless searches for firearms.