The Tennessee Firearms Association joined in an amicus brief filed with the United States Supreme Court on May 14, 2019, arguing that New York’s and other laws which regulate transportation of firearms violate the prohibitions imposed by the 2nd Amendment. The case is already before the United States Supreme Court under the style of New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, Inc., et al. v. City of New York, et al, docket number 18-280. TFA joined in with Gun Owners of America, Inc., Gun Owners Foundation, The Heller Foundation, Conservative Legal Defense and Education Fund and Restoring Liberty Action Committee in the filing.
The argument in the amicus filing is summarized as follows:
The right protected by the Second Amendment is of the highest order. It was born out of the lessons of a struggle for Independence, and the hard lessons learned that individual citizens faces threats from many sources, including fellow citizens, foreign powers, and potentially even their own government. Both Heller and McDonald identify the right as “preexisting” the Constitution. Indeed, the right to self defense is not one given us by government, but by God. As such, it is an unalienable right, as described in the Declaration of Independence. It can neither be yielded up by the People, nor compromised by the Government.
Although often overlooked, the preamble to the Second Amendment reveals the Framers’ views that the right protected was deemed to be “necessary to the security of a free State.” The Framers understood that, to preserve the nation’s security and each individual’s freedom, the people must be armed. Lastly, the notion that no constitutional rights are absolute must be recognized to be false. Each right, as its scope is properly understood by “text, history, and tradition,” must be considered to be absolute, or it will be compromised incrementally and eventually disappear entirely.
Tennessee Firearms Association increasingly recognizes the necessity of engaging the battle in the courts for the full restoration of those rights protected by the 2nd Amendment because, unfortunately, governors, state legislators, federal legislators, and local government officials have proven that they do not feel limited by the phrase “shall not be infringed.”
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