Blog 9/06/24

Weekly Spotlight 9/5/24 – 9/11/24


Majority Of Americans Support Right To Self Defense

As the 2024 election nears and the perceived gap between America’s two political parties seems to grow ever further apart, a recent survey reveals that Americans have at least some common ground on a foundational issue. A recent poll conducted by Marquette University Law School in nearby Milwaukee revealed that an overwhelming majority of Americans support the right to carry firearms in public for self-defense.

The survey, conducted from July 24 to August 1, focused on U.S. Supreme Court issues across various topics including the upcoming election. On the Second Amendment, the survey asked respondents about their feelings regarding the 2022 decision that protects an individual’s right to carry a firearm for self-defense in public. The overwhelming majority of respondents, nearly 70 percent, indicated that they favored this decision, with 40 percent indicating they were strongly in favor. 

These findings underscore a key issue as Americans are weeks away from being able to cast their votes in federal and state elections. Law-abiding gun owners have an obligation to become more involved in the political process in this year’s election. 

In recent years, tremendous steps have been taken to protect the Second Amendment rights of gun owners in Congress and state legislatures nationwide. However, as we have seen time and time again over the last four years, the Biden Administration and like-minded politicians at all levels are set on pursuing their anti-gun agenda. 

The findings of this survey data are encouraging and serve as yet another reminder of the growing momentum for Second Amendment protections across the country. However, this momentum can and will come to a screeching halt in the next four years if supporters of self-defense do not take it upon themselves to make their voices heard in November.

By getting out and voting for pro-Second Amendment lawmakers, a large swath of the electorate which includes law-abiding gun owners, can ensure that our right to self-defense is protected and that the ideologies of the anti-gun agenda do not ultimately become the law of the land. 

Visit the USCCA-FSL Action Fund’s Advocacy Page to See Our Legislative Priorities! 

OTHER NEWS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED

Associated Press (Illinois): Illinois Law Banning Concealed Carry On Public Transit Is Unconstitutional, Judge Rules

A federal judge has ruled that an Illinois law banning the concealed carry of firearms on public transit is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Iain D. Johnston in Rockford ruled last Friday with four gun owners who filed a lawsuit in 2022 contending that their inability to carry weapons on buses and trains violated their Second Amendment right to self-defense. Johnston relied on a pivotal U.S. Supreme Court case from 2022 that established that gun laws must be consistent with conditions found in the late 1700s when the Bill of Rights was composed. No regulation on where weapons could be carried existed.

FOX News: Harris-Led Office, ATF Stonewalling Probe Into ‘Collusion’ With Anti-Gun Group Lawsuit: House Oversight Chair

Vice President Kamala Harris is campaigning on what she characterizes as a record of a tough former prosecutor. But a White House office she has “overseen” may have focused less on gun crimes and more on targeting a legal gun manufacturer. The House Oversight and Accountability Committee says the Biden-Harris administration is stonewalling an investigation into potential “collusion” with a gun control group founded by billionaire former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to boost Chicago’s lawsuit against Glock Inc.

AL.com (Alabama): Alabama Sheriff Seeks To Amend Alabama’s Permitless Carry Law, Require Permits For Those Under 21

An Alabama Republican sheriff wants to see youths under age 21 required to purchase a permit to carry a concealed weapon, and he’s gathering information to see if there can be an effort to change the permitless carry law in the Alabama Legislature. Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch told AL.com last week that young offenders have increasingly been those involved in gun and gang-related violence in the past year, and that requiring them to carry a permit would give law enforcement a tool to seize the firearms before they are used violently.

The Truth About Guns: 5th Circuit Court Rules Illegals Don’t Have 2A Rights

Just five months after a federal judge ruled that a ban on gun possession by those in the country illegally was unconstitutional, a three-judge panel of a federal appeals court has ruled just the opposite. On Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in the case against Jose Paz Medina-Cantu that Second Amendment rights do not apply to those who have entered the country illegally. Medina-Cantu was arrested in 2022 by Border Patrol agents and charged with illegally possessing a handgun and unlawfully re-entering the country after being deported.

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