DC gun ban

Ray Schoenke

AHSA on target on the Second Amendment

By Ray Schoenke at March 20, 2008 - 10:13am

I know most people are preoccupied by the presidential campaign – and rightly so. However, there was a very important Second Amendment case argued before the Supreme Court this week. The case, District of Columbia v. Heller, the constitutional challenge to the D.C. hand gun ban, is the first case in 70 years where the US supreme court will decide whether or not the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms. This case could affect the validity of gun laws all across the nation.

It was especially significant for my organization, the American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA). With eleven retired military officers from the highest levels of the armed forces, we submitted an amicus brief in the case on behalf of Mr. Heller who is challenging the gun ban. I wrote a post about our brief when it was submitted to the Court. We strongly support the Second Amendment as an individual right.

But, we took a different, thoughtful approach – a unique approach, as I explained in an earlier DailyKos diary:

Instead of playing this game and picking one of these sides, we have taken what I think is a unique approach in arguing that the language of the Second Amendment does not support pitting individual rights against group rights. We argue that just like the rest of the Bill of Rights, the Second Amendment is a blend of both individual rights and community rights, with each depending on the other. And, we think it's pretty obvious that "a well-regulated militia" actually depends on individual recruits who have familiarity and training with firearms. The brief we submitted today, which was written by some of DC's most experienced Supreme Court lawyers, argues that the individual right to bear arms is essential to the collective public interest in a "well regulated militia," and that the DC Gun Law is not authorized under the DC Home Rule Act – which according to our lawyers gives the Supreme Court a non-Constitutional basis to affirm the decision of the lower court that found an individual right to keep and bear arms.

I thought our brief could have an impact – and it did in the oral argument on Tuesday.

The lawyer for the plaintiff, Alan Gura, actually referred to AHSA’s brief in a response to a question from Justice Breyer regarding why the DC law violated the 2nd Amendment (A pfd of the full transcript can be found at the Supreme Court site):

Your Honor, for the same reason it was offered by numerous military officers at the highest levels of the U.S. military in all branches of service writing in two briefs, they agree with us that the handgun ban serves to weaken America's military preparedness. Because when people have handguns -- handguns are military arms, they are not just civilian arms -- they are better prepared and able to use them. And, certainly, when they join the military forces, they are issued handguns. And so if we assume that the sort of military purpose to the Second Amendment is an individual right, then the handgun ban, as noted by our military amici, would impede that.

Yes, I know that sounds very legalistic, but the "military amici" to which Gura refers was based on AHSA’s brief. Now, I’m not a lawyer, but the lawyers with whom I work tell me that was a very significant event – having Heller’s lawyer cite our brief. We have already played a key role in this historic case and I look forward to reading the Court’s opinion when it comes down in June.

On the same day as the Supreme Court argument, AHSA also got featured in a Washington Post article:

The American Hunters and Shooters Association is the latest organization to try to dethrone the NRA as chief spokesman for people who care about guns. The association positions itself as an NRA alternative, a group that likes guns and those who shoot them but believes the NRA is too absolutist, especially when it comes to opposing almost any curb on the right to bear arms.

"The NRA is extreme," says Ray Schoenke, the former Washington Redskins lineman and failed Democratic candidate for governor of Maryland who is president of the American Hunters and Shooters Association.

As proof of his gun-toting credentials, Schoenke says he likes nothing better than heading to Maryland's Eastern Shore and shooting a duck, then cleaning it, cooking it and eating it. "I own guns," he boasts. "I have guns everywhere."

Unfortunately, the NRA is extreme because of its current leadership. And, in that article, the NRA leadership continued its attack on AHSA and me, of course. They are running out of ammo against us. Their latest argument was an attempt to compare us to the now defunct Americans for Gun Safety. Nothing could be further from the truth. AGS was a DLC-type organization, with no members, run by policy wonks who were not hunters or shooters. Anyone who knows gun owners knows that type of group would never gain traction with sportsmen. You need gun owners talking to other gun owners – and that’s what AHSA does.

The NRA leadership is concerned about AHSA because they know that we do represent hunters. And, after this week, they can never again challenge our Second Amendment credentials.

It takes real hunters to take on the NRA leadership.

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