Our Team Wins in San Francisco!

[toddackerman]

San Francisco Gun Ban Ruled Null and Void


NRA Wins Big in California State Court of Appeals
Fairfax, VA - The California State Court of Appeals announced today their decision to overturn one of the most restrictive gun bans in the country, following a legal battle by attorneys for the National Rifle Association (NRA) and a previous court order against the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

"Today's decision by the California State Court of Appeals is a big win for the law-abiding citizens and NRA Members of San Francisco," declared Chris W. Cox, NRA's chief lobbyist.

In 2005, NRA sought an injunction against the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to prevent them from enacting one of the nation's most restrictive gun bans. NRA won the injunction, but the City's mayor and Board of Supervisors ignored the court order and approved a set of penalties, including a $1,000 fine and a jail term of between 90 days and six months, for city residents who own firearms for lawful purposes in their own homes.

"We promised our California NRA members in 2005 that we would fight any gun ban instituted by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and we haven't given up that fight," continued Cox. "Today we see our second win for the Second Amendment against the San Francisco gun ban. We beat them once in court and the City's attorney appealed based on his personal disagreement with the court's first decision to overturn the ban. Now we've beaten them again. The California State Court of Appeals has upheld the state preemption law."

Today's decision came in the form of a 3-0 opinion in favor of the lower court ruling overturning the gun ban.

"This decision is a thoughtful and well-reasoned legal opinion," concluded Cox. "I'd like to thank our approximately 4 million members, including the hundreds of thousands of members in California, for their continued commitment to protecting our cherished freedoms."

[Patrick Aherne]

This was a foregone conclusion as California has a state pre-emption rule regarding firearms. It was always going to lose, it was just a matter of time and waste of taxpayer money.

[BSHNT2015]

A win for the NRA and the citizen's right to bear arms. Full story at www.ktvu.com.


SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco's controversial handgun ban, approved by city voters in 2005, suffered another legal setback Wednesday when it was overturned by a state appeals court panel that ruled it conflicted with state law.

Appeals Court Justice Ignazio Ruvolo was critical of the measure, known as Proposition H, in the unanimous 3-0 decision. Ruvolo wrote for the court that "local governments are well advised to tread lightly" when regulating firearms.

The justice wrote further that the state laws were intended to balance the "interest of the general public to be protected from the criminal misuse of firearms" and the interest of "law-abiding citizens to purchase and use firearms to deter crime, to help police fight crime" and for hunting and recreation.

The court ruled in a lawsuit filed by the National Rifle Association, four firearms rights groups and seven individuals to challenge the ban. It upheld a similar ruling in which San Francisco Superior Court Judge James Warren found in 2006 that state laws pre-empted the local ban.

The measure, which never went into effect, would have barred almost all city residents from possessing handguns and prohibited all residents from selling, manufacturing or distributing the firearms within the city.

Exceptions would have been allowed for law enforcement officers and others such as security guards who need guns for professional purposes.

The measure was described to voters as being intended to address the serious problem of handgun violence in the city.

In her inaugural address Tuesday, San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris said getting guns off the city's streets was one of the main priorities of her second term.

"Over the last four years, 284 of the homicides in San Francisco -- nearly 80 percent -- were committed with a gun," Harris said. "So we are working with D.A.s around the country, drawing a line in the sand on the issue of illegal guns."

Harris' office has joined with other district attorneys to file "friend of the court" briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court as it considers the Second Amendment and what it means in terms of gun ownership.
Copyright 2008 by KTVU.com and Bay City News

[Trim2L]

SanFranny is asleep at the wheel. The last time I was there I was shocked by how many drug induced zombies were on every corner. At the time I told my folks about it and they just laughed and said nothing had changed since the 70's.

Glad to see SanFran put in its place.

[ddemis]

Thank GOD for the NRA, they protect our heritage and way of life. Thats why I am a life member!

[mmike87]

San Fancisco officials KNEW that it was going get get stuck since it so blatently violated the States preemption laws. They only passed the law to make a big stink.

Unfortunately, I don't see this as a big victory. It upholds CA's preemption law, in a state that already has some of the worst gun laws in the country. All SF did was make the NRA spend a bunch of money.