PARAGON FOUNDATION FILES AMICUS BRIEF IN LANDMARK SECOND AMENDMENT D.C. CASE

Immediate Release

For Information contact

Nicole Krebs

575.434.8998



PARAGON FOUNDATION FILES AMICUS BRIEF IN LANDMARK SECOND AMENDMENT D.C. CASE



ALAMOGORDO, NM: PARAGON Foundation Executive Director, GB Oliver announced the Foundation’s filing of an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of a court of appeals ruling regarding the case – District of Columbia v. Heller. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case, which is shaping up to be a landmark case regarding the meaning and application of the Second Amendment.



On March 9, 2007, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit marked the first time that a federal appellate court used the second amendment to invalidate a gun-control regulation. In response, the District of Columbia has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to resurrect a city ordinance containing the firearms ban, which also requires owners to secure rifles and shotguns with trigger locks or keep them disassembled. Opponents to the D.C. ban allege the ban prohibits a citizen within the District from having a firearm for self-defense within one’s home, and is an unconstitutional violation of the Second Amendment. The simplicity of the wording of the Second Amendment, which contains only 27 words, continues to be a source of endless debate, “A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”



In its amicus filing, PARAGON’s counsel Paul Kienzle argues, “ ‘The Right of the People,’ to keep and bear arms existed before the formation of any government and exists not because of the government but is preserved by it … The Second Amendment must be interpreted in conjunction with the historical use of firearms by individuals for self-defense, hunting and other practical purposes.” Good public policy is squarely in favor of an individual right to keep and bear arms. Quoting a memorable line from Louis L’Amour’s novel, Heller with a Gun, “[o]ut here a gun is a tool. Men use them when they have to . . . Where there’s no law, all the strength can’t be left in the hands of the lawless, so good men use guns, too.”



The PARAGON Foundation, Inc. is a New Mexico 501 c (3) non-profit organization created to support and advance the fundamental, non-partisan principles set forth in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. The PARAGON Foundation, Inc. has thousands of citizen members nationwide of a diverse demographic including ranchers and landowners.

For more information, please contact:

PARAGON Foundation, Inc.

1209 Michigan Ave.

Alamogordo, NM 88310

877.847.3443

575.434.8998

www.paragonfoundation.org