“These folks simply don’t understand how our system works.”
‘Fantastic victory’
Gura called the Heller ruling a “fantastic victory for Second Amendment rights” and he thanked co-counsels Bob Levy, who financed the case, and Clark Neely. He also said “our army of Davids” whom he identified as David Young, David Kopel and David Hardy, all played significant roles, as did attorney Joe Olson and historian Clayton Cramer.
“The Heller decision is the most profound victory for gun rights since the ratification of the Second Amendment itself in 1791,” Gura observed. “Now we actually know that it has real substantive meaning and it’s going to be enforced. This is a real right, its one that legislators have to respect because the courts are going to enforce it.”
He drew chuckles when he called for a moment of silence in memory of the “collective rights theory” that had been argued by gun rights opponents.
But he quickly returned to the serious nature of the gun rights battle, noting that the Heller ruling was a foundation upon which more court cases will have to be mounted.
“It’s going to take time to continue fighting it,” he said. “We did not and could not have one case that for all time solved all Second Amendment questions and problems. Make no mistake about it, the Second Amendment is going to receive a robust level of protection; it is not going to be an absolute right. We don’t have that in our system…but it will be equal to other rights.
“Do not listen to various armchair constitutionalists and other professionally and perpetually angry people who become upset about ‘well they didn’t solve everything in the one case’,” he said. “These folks simply don’t understand how our system works.”
Gura cautioned the audience that “we have to be careful in the way we approach litigation.” There must be care taken in choosing the right cases to fight, and the right time to fight them.
“Cases that are done by crazy people, people who are acting in pro se, people who don’t really understand the law that well are going to fail, and they’re going to make bad law and set our movement back,” he warned.
Gura predicted that the Chicago handgun ban, now being challenged in separate cases by SAF and ISRA, and the NRA, will eventually be struck down.
“We are going to make sure the Second Amendment has to be respected not just by the federal government and federal entities but by state and local legislatures as well,” he said. “The fact is that’s where most of the action is in the gun control world… We’re going to keep fighting and we’re going to make sure the Second Amendment is respected to its maximum potential.”
Froman pitches McCain
Froman, who now sits on the national steering committee of Sportsmen for McCain, stressed to the audience that this year’s election “is the most important election in our lifetime.”
“Make no mistake,” she stated, “this time we’re facing an absolutely pivotal presidential election. I can’t imagine a more important election for Second Amendment rights than the one we face Nov. 4.”
Acknowledging that many in the room, including herself, had sometimes disagreed with McCain on various issues, Froman insisted that the Arizona Republican senator believes that the Second Amendment protects an individual right. She also reminded the audience that McCain had consistently opposed bans on semi-automatic firearms or full-capacity magazines because “he’s understood the slippery slope that such laws put us on.”
Froman said McCain’s opposition to gun bans is based on the belief that if government can ban certain guns one day, then bans on other guns might follow. McCain, she said, also has opposed waiting periods because “if it is five days today, it could be five months tomorrow.”
McCain also co-sponsored legislation in 2005 that prohibits junk lawsuits against firearm manufacturers. That law, Froman said, “may well have saved the entire firearms industry.”
Froman further stated that by inviting Palin to run on this year’s Republican ticket, “McCain is positioning this remarkable woman to be a national leader for years to come.”
Contrasting Obama’s record, Froman noted that he has consistently supported gun control, even during a short career in the Senate. Prior to his election to the US Senate, Obama supported gun control in Illinois, and he is on record as supporting reinstatement of the Clinton gun ban of 1994.
The critical issue, Froman explained, is who McCain would appoint to federal judicial posts, including the Supreme Court, as opposed to the type of judges and justices Obama would appoint. McCain, she recalled, had voted to confirm both Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, while Obama voted against both men.
The Supreme Court, she added, would be deciding cases that affect gun rights for the next 50 or even 100 years.
Gun Week’s report on the 2008 Gun Rights Policy Conference will continue in the next issue.
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