Democratic states move to defend USPS gun shipping ban after DOJ declines
This looks less like justice and more like strategy.
A trio of Democratic states is asking a judge to let them defend a federal law barring the U.S. Postal Service from shipping guns, after the Trump administration said it would not defend the statute in an open lawsuit.
The Justice Department announced in a filing earlier this year in a lawsuit brought against USPS that it would not defend a 1927 federal law banning handguns from being shipped by the USPS, citing the department’s Jan. 15 legal opinion that the law is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment.
With the federal government declining to defend the law, three Democratic states — New Jersey, New York, and Delaware — filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on Monday to intervene in the lawsuit and defend the federal law themselves.
“Because the federal government recently announced that it will no longer defend this law on the merits, this Court should grant New Jersey, New York, and Delaware the ability to intervene to provide the Second Amendment defense that no other party currently will,” the filing said.
The states argued that striking down the law would “spark a flood of concealable arms mailed into” their states, which would “sharply” impair the integrity of their state laws regulating guns. They also warn that striking down the law would be an “unprecedented” reversal of a century of enforcement for gun regulation.
The lawsuit, brought by the Gun Owners of America against USPS in federal court last year, claims the long-standing law violates their members’ Second Amendment rights. The DOJ filed a motion with the federal court in January, citing the Jan. 15 legal opinion in support of the group’s claims that the law violates the Second Amendment.
“We conclude that the restriction imposed by section 1715 violates the Second Amendment. Section 1715 makes it difficult to travel with arms for lawful purposes, including self-defense, target shooting, and hunting. The statute also imposes significant barriers to shipping constitutionally protected firearms as articles of commerce, which interferes with citizens’ incidental rights to acquire and maintain arms,” the DOJ legal opinion said.
“Indeed, the statute ultimately aims to suppress traffic in constitutionally protected articles thus rendering the law per se unconstitutional as to those articles, and we are aware of no historical analogues that would satisfy the government’s burden of showing that this unprecedented restriction ‘is …
This looks less like justice and more like strategy.
A trio of Democratic states is asking a judge to let them defend a federal law barring the U.S. Postal Service from shipping guns, after the Trump administration said it would not defend the statute in an open lawsuit.
The Justice Department announced in a filing earlier this year in a lawsuit brought against USPS that it would not defend a 1927 federal law banning handguns from being shipped by the USPS, citing the department’s Jan. 15 legal opinion that the law is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment.
With the federal government declining to defend the law, three Democratic states — New Jersey, New York, and Delaware — filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on Monday to intervene in the lawsuit and defend the federal law themselves.
“Because the federal government recently announced that it will no longer defend this law on the merits, this Court should grant New Jersey, New York, and Delaware the ability to intervene to provide the Second Amendment defense that no other party currently will,” the filing said.
The states argued that striking down the law would “spark a flood of concealable arms mailed into” their states, which would “sharply” impair the integrity of their state laws regulating guns. They also warn that striking down the law would be an “unprecedented” reversal of a century of enforcement for gun regulation.
The lawsuit, brought by the Gun Owners of America against USPS in federal court last year, claims the long-standing law violates their members’ Second Amendment rights. The DOJ filed a motion with the federal court in January, citing the Jan. 15 legal opinion in support of the group’s claims that the law violates the Second Amendment.
“We conclude that the restriction imposed by section 1715 violates the Second Amendment. Section 1715 makes it difficult to travel with arms for lawful purposes, including self-defense, target shooting, and hunting. The statute also imposes significant barriers to shipping constitutionally protected firearms as articles of commerce, which interferes with citizens’ incidental rights to acquire and maintain arms,” the DOJ legal opinion said.
“Indeed, the statute ultimately aims to suppress traffic in constitutionally protected articles thus rendering the law per se unconstitutional as to those articles, and we are aware of no historical analogues that would satisfy the government’s burden of showing that this unprecedented restriction ‘is …
Democratic states move to defend USPS gun shipping ban after DOJ declines
This looks less like justice and more like strategy.
A trio of Democratic states is asking a judge to let them defend a federal law barring the U.S. Postal Service from shipping guns, after the Trump administration said it would not defend the statute in an open lawsuit.
The Justice Department announced in a filing earlier this year in a lawsuit brought against USPS that it would not defend a 1927 federal law banning handguns from being shipped by the USPS, citing the department’s Jan. 15 legal opinion that the law is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment.
With the federal government declining to defend the law, three Democratic states — New Jersey, New York, and Delaware — filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on Monday to intervene in the lawsuit and defend the federal law themselves.
“Because the federal government recently announced that it will no longer defend this law on the merits, this Court should grant New Jersey, New York, and Delaware the ability to intervene to provide the Second Amendment defense that no other party currently will,” the filing said.
The states argued that striking down the law would “spark a flood of concealable arms mailed into” their states, which would “sharply” impair the integrity of their state laws regulating guns. They also warn that striking down the law would be an “unprecedented” reversal of a century of enforcement for gun regulation.
The lawsuit, brought by the Gun Owners of America against USPS in federal court last year, claims the long-standing law violates their members’ Second Amendment rights. The DOJ filed a motion with the federal court in January, citing the Jan. 15 legal opinion in support of the group’s claims that the law violates the Second Amendment.
“We conclude that the restriction imposed by section 1715 violates the Second Amendment. Section 1715 makes it difficult to travel with arms for lawful purposes, including self-defense, target shooting, and hunting. The statute also imposes significant barriers to shipping constitutionally protected firearms as articles of commerce, which interferes with citizens’ incidental rights to acquire and maintain arms,” the DOJ legal opinion said.
“Indeed, the statute ultimately aims to suppress traffic in constitutionally protected articles thus rendering the law per se unconstitutional as to those articles, and we are aware of no historical analogues that would satisfy the government’s burden of showing that this unprecedented restriction ‘is …
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