Filing a pro-gun lawsuit

C

ctdonath

New member
How?

For all the whining about unconstitutional laws, and armchair warriors making declarations about prying and cold fingers, methinks there is a profound lack of working the system as designed: lawsuits.

We should be flooding the courts with lawsuits about:
- Right to carry for defense of self
- Bans on new high-cap magazines
- Virtual suspention of rights in major cities
- Carry across state lines (a la universal validity of driving licenses)
- Right to class 3 guns as standard militia arms
- Manufacture bans based on cosmetics
- Illegal retention of NICS records
- Excessive delays for permission
- Excessive fees
- Confusing and absurd restrictions on where one may carry
- <Your favorite peeve here>

So why don't we see such lawsuits? Methinks: the unknown. Most of us have no idea how to file lawsuits, how much they cost, how much time they take...and have no idea how to find out. We're cowed by the supposed high cost of litigation...when the system is supposed to be accessable and fair to all. We wait for the NRA to make singular narrow all-or-nothing lawsuits, when we could be flooding the courts by questioning all aspects of the infringements upon our rights.

So...what the heck to do? Really, I'm clueless: how do I file a lawsuit? How can I do it without hiring a lawyer? Are there any lawyers willing to post how-to instructions? Anyone here filed lawsuits and willing to tell the story? How long will it all take?

Our rights are too important to leave to criminals seeking technicalities, and to big organizations with slow-moving strategies. I've waited years to see a grand showdown, and about all that's happened is that Brady Law enforcement was declared optional instead of mandatory, and the best current right-to-own case rests on a wife-beater looking for a technicality.

It's time to do something. How does a responsible, law-abiding little guy say "that law is invalid, I don't want to break it just to 'test' it, and I just want to exercise my right in a reasonable manner"?
 
You could talk to Jim March--he's the Community moderator over on Bladeforums.com. His suit was based on discrimination, though--in his part of California he got hold of proof that contributors to the sherriff's campaign were issued CCW's while no one else could. That's a bit more clear cut.
Personally, I don't have the money right now to do even a cheapie lawsuit (all the talk about $500 "value" guns blows my mind :) ) but I graduate in May and I've been thinking about this a lot. I confess my thoughts had centered around a test case--simply strap on an unloaded firearm, walk to the police station, and turn myself in (carry is illegal in IL.) Maybe a lawsuit makes more sense, though, and I wouldn't need the support of a big organization. Try a test case without big backers and you're screwed, I think.

------------------
Don

"Its not criminals that go into schools and shoot children"
--Ann Pearston, British Gun Control apologist and moron
 
I knew former gun store owner in my great golden (maybe shower) state and was told that a superior court would cost at least 25,000. I was told this by him while he was in court suing Gov Wilson for revoking a hunting permit on Catalina Island. About this case the judge said somehting to the effect "being right does not guarantee that justice will be done." From then on I have little faith in the justice system. About the all or nothing, if the supreme court would get off their asses and make a ruling maybe we could eliminate most of these gun laws at once, but that wont happen anytime soon.
All of us could always get together and file as multiple plaintiffs.

Or we could write up a paper and all sign are John Hancocks. This last might leade to an inconvenient lifestyle afterwards?
 
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