Second Amendment Foundation Lawsuit

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http://www.ohioccw.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3758&Itemid=83

Second Amendment Foundation Lawsuit PDF Print E-mail
Written by Jeff Garvas
Wednesday, 15 November 2006

The Bellevue, Washington based Second Amendment Foundation has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the "sporting purpose" restriction on behalf of London, England, resident Maxwell Hodgkins. Hodgkins is a United States citizen living abroad who returns to the United States on occasion. While here, the Second Amendment Foundation states Hodgkins can not purchase a firearm.

More importantly, Hodgkins can "receive" guns for "lawful sporting purposes" but he is prohibited from doing so for lawful self defense while visiting the United States. This despite any state issued licenses or permits he may have acquired.

Hodgkins' attorneys say he could face federal charges should he attempt to access his guns in the United States. The issue seems to focus on the fact that although Hodgkins is a citizen of the United States he does not maintain a permanent residence within the country.

“These laws serve no useful purpose,” says [an attorney for Hodgkins] “If Mr. Hodgkins may safely have a gun for target practice or hunting, he can certainly have a gun for other lawful purposes.”

The SAF Press Release can be found on their website [ http://www.saf.org/viewpr-new.asp?id=202 ]as well as the formal complaint
[http://www.saf.org/texas.expat.lawsuit/texas.expat.complaint.pdf]

Ohioans For Concealed Carry and the Second Amendment Foundation previously worked together to pursue Klein v. Leis, a constitutional challenge against Ohio's concealed carry laws that pre-date today's license system.

 

[Ben Shepherd]

This guy is a full fledged US citizen, right?

Because his permanent residence is outside the counrty he can't have any of his guns when he's here, even if he has a valid CCW permit in the state he's visiting?

There has got to be a very long list of people in the same boat. I'm betting most are unaware of thier potential troubles.

 

[sm]

Ben,

You raise questions I have about the legality of all this. I was hoping the more learned members could enlighten us all.

Another is , this "statue" if you will has existed for some time. WE the People have so many 'statues' on the books we cannot keep up with them , civilian , LEO , even judges cannot keep up.

This Battle for Preserving Freedom is hard, especially with so many statues on the books already that perhaps need attention. Add keeping tabs on ones that are being introduced .

What also concerns me is this worry about things that "may not" , or "what if" happens - as we have enough on "Our" plate to deal with as is to preserve Freedom and Fight Tyranny.

I'm interested to learn more about this case, and see how it plays out.

Steve

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

Ben, you described the problem perfectly. This is a U.S. citizen who does not have a legal residence in the U.S. because he lives overseas. Because he does not have a legal residence, he is denied the ability to purchase any firearms.

The complaint seems very well drawn to me and the lawyer representing it in the Northern District Dallas court is William Mateja - a former Department of Justice attorney who is now the principal at Fish & Richardson in Dallas. Fish & Richardson Dallas has a pretty impressive win record in litigation, though they mostly do intellectual property cases.

The only iffy part I saw was that part of the complaint mentions that Mr. Hodgkins is worried about being arrested for maintaining his current collection of firearms since he has no legal residence. I think a higher court is likely to find that there is no standing for this part of the complaint; but it doesn't hurt to try it and there is no question that Mr. Mateja is a lot more savvy on these matters than I am.