By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Friday, June 10, the Montgomery based Foundation for Moral Law issued a statement sharply critical of a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Peruta versus San Diego County that upheld a California law which curtails the right to carry concealed firearms.
Thursday’s 9 to 4 decision held that the Second Amendment protects the right to own firearms but not to carry concealed firearms in public. The Court left unanswered the question whether the Second Amendment guarantees the right to carry firearms openly. The court also upheld another provision of the California law that authorizes counties to issue permits for concealed weapons upon a showing of “good cause.”
Foundation President Kayla Moore said in a statement, “Our Founding Fathers knew that the right to keep and bear arms is essential to the preservation of freedom. I vow that the Foundation will fight this ruling with an amicus brief to the US Supreme Court.”
Foundation Senior Counsel John Eidsmoe argued that the Ninth Circuit decision is based on a selective and flawed reading of history.
Eidsmoe said, “The court noted that concealed carry was not guaranteed under English common law but ignored Madison’s observation in Federalist No. 46 that unlike most European kingdoms, in America the prevalence of firearms was the primary defense of freedom against tyranny.”
Eidsmoe added, “The decision runs contrary to the plain wording of the Second Amendment, which guarantees the right, not just to ‘keep’ arms, but also to ‘bear’ arms. Nothing in the Second Amendment limits the right to bear arms to open carry, nor does anything in the Amendment authorize the State to limit concealed carry to those who (in an official’s subjective opinion) have shown ‘good cause.’ A citizen’s reasons for carrying arms are none of the government’s business. No wonder the Supreme Court reverses the Ninth Circuit more than any other Circuit.”
On Thursday, June 9, Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange (R) said, “The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held today that residents have no Second Amendment right to carry a firearm outside their home for self-defense. In effect the appeals court ruled that San Diego County can outlaw guns outside the home by declining to issue anyone a permit. This court’s decision is a direct challenge to the Second Amendment and is unconstitutional.”
Alabama was among 21 states who had fled an amicus brief supporting gun rights in the case of Peruta verses San Diego County.
Guns have become a bitterly partisan issue in this election.
Following the murder of 49 and the wounding of 53 in a terrorist attack on the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando on Sunday, US Senate Democrats are filibustering to try to force the Senate to restrict Americans Second Amendment rights. Democrats favor preventing Americans who are put on the government’s potential terrorist watch list from being able to buy guns. They also would like to see a new assault weapons ban.
The Foundation for Moral Law was founded by Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore. Kayla Moore is the Chief Justice’s wife. The Foundation describes itself as, “An Alabama legal foundation dedicated to the defense of the Constitution as intended by its Framers.”
