SCOTUS: Court Rejects Gunmakers' Appeal

Status
Not open for further replies.

shooterx10

Member
Joined
May 8, 2003
Messages
159
I wonder how they'll rule on the Silviera case, if they decide to take it?

Court Rejects Gunmakers' Appeal

WASHINGTON (AP) - Two gunmakers who challenged Congress' authority to ban the manufacture, sale and possession of semiautomatic assault weapons lost a Supreme Court appeal Monday.

The court, without comment, rejected an appeal that said Congress exceeded its power to regulate interstate commerce when it outlawed such weapons in 1994.

The 1994 law, an amendment to the Gun Control Act of 1968, defines semiautomatic assault weapons to include a list of specified firearms and ``copies or duplicates of the firearms in any caliber.''

Navegar Inc. and Penn Arms Inc. challenged the federal ban in 1995.

Florida-based Navegar, doing business as Intratec, manufactures two semiautomatic pistols, the TEC-DC9 and TEC-22, which are among the specifically banned weapons.

Pennsylvania-based Penn Arms makes the Strike 12, a 12-gauge revolving cylinder shotgun. All such shotguns are treated as semiautomatic assault weapons under the 1994 law.

A federal trial judge and the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld the ban. In its ruling last year, the appeals court called the law a permissible ``regulation of activities having a substantial effect on interstate commerce.''

The appeals court cited Congress' ``intent to control the flow through interstate commerce of semiautomatic assault weapons bought or manufactured in one state and subsequently transported into other states.''

In the appeal acted on Monday, the gunmakers argued that the appeals court ruling conflicts with recent Supreme Court decisions that pared congressional power by narrowing the definition of interstate commerce.

In one, the Supreme Court said Congress exceeded its authority in banning possession of guns within 1,000 feet of schools. In another, the court struck down a key provision of the Violence Against Women Act.

The gunmakers' appeal said the appeals court wrongly presumed that ``the manufacture and transfer of semiautomatic assault weapons was for a national market.''

They said the appeals court ``had no basis for concluding ... that the intrastate manufacture, transfer or possession of semiautomatic assault weapons had a substantial effect on interstate commerce.''

Justice Department lawyers urged the court to reject the appeal. ``Federal regulation of firearms and assault weapons is based in large part on evidence that the nationwide market for firearms renders purely local prohibitions ineffective,'' they said.

The case is Navegar v. U.S., 99-1874.

Copyright 2000 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Here is the link.
 
``Federal regulation of firearms and assault weapons is based in large part on evidence that the nationwide market for firearms renders purely local prohibitions ineffective,'' they said.
And Australia, England, the WoSD, and the 19th Amendment are evidence that purely national and global prohibitions are worse than ineffective, as well. :rolleyes:

- pdmoderator
 
Well, contrary to what is implied by the author's language of "rejecting an appeal", the SCOTUS denying cert most certainly is NOT a comment either way on the case by the SCOTUS, so the legal questions in the case are ultimately undecided, but they ARE decided for now, in THAT circuit, until the SCOTUS does accept cert in some other case with the same issue. Grrrr.
 
That case doesn't seem to have anything to do with the right to keep and bears arms, so I don't think you an draw anything useful from it in respect to Silviera.
 
From the article:

The appeals court cited Congress' ``intent to control the flow through interstate commerce of semiautomatic assault weapons bought or manufactured in one state and subsequently transported into other states.''

Sounds to me like it is legal to build an AW as long as it doesn't leave the state it was made in. I wonder if that defense would work in court.
 
This has nothing to do with Silveira, btw. This is a commerce clause case. Silveira is an individual rights case. Which would you rather the SCOTUS strike down an assault weapon's ban on?
 
I think that since the ban, at least in its current form, goes away next year, SCOTUS just decided not to waste their time on it. Why bother to overturn a law that is going away next year? Especially one that if they decided based on the Constitution, would open them up for a flood of new challenges on every gun law in the country.
 
Man, I'd love to have a Stryker 12 or a Street Sweeper. Sure, they aren't good for much but how many of us have bought guns for their cool factor?
 
Why bother to overturn a law that's going away next year?

Is it now? Maybe it will, but for how long? Bush has already committed to signing it if it lands on his desk and the antis have already pitched the "new and improved" version with many more restrictions in it.
What if the original or the "new and improved" infringement does end up on his desk? Is anyone here dumb enough to believe he is going to act on principle over political expediency? He has to put up or shut up.
What if Bush loses the Whitehouse in the 2004 election or worse........the balance of power shifts in in both houses of congress?
Too many gun owners are over confident that Bush is our friend, the AWB will sunset never to rise again, and that somehow the current congress is going to remain in power. It's only going to take one election to foul things up royally. A court ruling would at least buy a little more time.

BTW...The vast majority of gun laws need to be opened up for challenges and if not on the Constitution what standard do you propose they be judged by? :scrutiny:
 
This was a commerce clause case that never had a chance. If SCOTUS had accepted the logic in this case and supported it, it would have wiped out half the legislation Congress has written since much of it rests on a very broad interpretation of the commerce clause.

Earlier cases that narrowed the scope of the commerce clause somewhat were just nibbling at the edges. This case was trying to eat half the pie in a single mouthful and SCOTUS isn't going to do that even if they are sympathetic.

By the way, to see how the commerce clause affects your guns and other rights read:

http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-216.html

It is a great piece.
 
Is it now? Maybe it will, but for how long?
The one they would have to look at goes away no matter what. A new one may be passed, which would require the whole process to start over.

BTW...The vast majority of gun laws need to be opened up for challenges and if not on the Constitution what standard do you propose they be judged by?

I would love for the SCOTUS to rule on a 2nd Amendment case. You may notice however, they tend to avoid taking any direct challenge about the 2nd Amendment like the plaque. For some reason, it is an issue they do not want to deal with.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top