Del. State Sportsmen’s Association Goes to Court Over Gun Bills
The Delaware State Sportsmen’s Association said Wednesday it has filed the first of what will likely be three court challenges to gun-related bills that were signed by Governor John Carney on the final day of the Delaware General Assembly Session June 30th.
The target is House Bill 450, which the DSSA said bans a “long list of commonly owned rifles, shotguns and pistols, pejoratively and inaccurately labeling those firearms as ‘assault weapons.'”
“DSSA has been protecting and defending the rights of Delaware’s hunters, sportsmen and women, and law-abiding gun owners since 1968. This is not the first time we have challenged unconstitutional and illegal actions of government officials in court, and it will not be the last,” Delaware State Sportsmen’s Association President Jeff Hague said. “We promised our members and the people of Delaware that if HB 450 ever became law we would challenge that law and today we kept that promise.”
According to the DSSA, this case filed in U.S. District Court calls for HB 450 to be declared in violation of not only someone’s constitutional right to keep and bear arms that is guaranteed in the Delaware and United States Constitutions, but other constitutional provisions as well: “the Commerce Clause, the Due Process Clause, the Equal Protection Clause and the “takings” clauses of both the Delaware and United States Constitutions.”
Hague anticipates that the DSSA will also represent gun rights supporters in challenging laws that ban or restrict standard capacity magazines (called large-capacity magazines by the bill’s sponsors) and that would prohibit anyone under age 21 from possessing most firearms, with certain exceptions.
“We kept our promise on HB 450, we will keep our promise on those bills as well. We are both duty and honor bound to protect the constitutional rights of our members and the people of Delaware, and we shall do so,” Hague said.
“DSSA was joined in this action by the Bridgeville Rifle and Pistol Club, The Delaware Association of Federal Firearms Licensees, the Delaware Rifle and Pistol Club and several individual members of those
organizations,” DSSA said in a statement.
The Delaware State Sportsmen’s Association said Wednesday it has filed the first of what will likely be three court challenges to gun-related bills that were signed by Governor John Carney on the final day of the Delaware General Assembly Session June 30th.
The target is House Bill 450, which the DSSA said bans a “long list of commonly owned rifles, shotguns and pistols, pejoratively and innaccurately labeling those firearms as ‘assault weapons.'”
“DSSA has been protecting and defending the rights of Delaware’s hunters, sportsmen and women, and law-abiding gun owners since 1968. This is not the first time we have challenged unconstitutional and illegal actions of government officials in court, and it will not be the last,” Delaware State Sportsmen’s Association President Jeff Hague said. “We promised our members and the people of Delaware that if HB 450 ever became law we would challenge that law and today we kept that promise.”
According to the DSSA, this case filed in U.S. District Court calls for HB 450 to be declared in violation of not only someone’s constitutional right to keep and bear arms that is guaranteed in the Delaware and United States Constitutions, but other constitutional provisions as well: “the Commerce Clause, the Due Process Clause, the Equal Protection Clause and the “takings” clauses of both the Delaware and United States Constitutions.”
Hague anticipates that the DSSA will also represent gun rights supporters in challenging laws that ban or restrict standard capacity magazines (called large-capacity magazines by the bill’s sponsors) and that would prohibit anyone under age 21 from possessing most firearms, with certain exceptions.
“We kept our promise on HB 450, we will keep our promise on those bills as well. We are both duty and honor bound to protect the constitutional rights of our members and the people of Delaware, and we shall do so,” Hague said.
“DSSA was joined in this action by the Bridgeville Rifle and Pistol Club, The Delaware Association of Federal Firearms Licensees, the Delaware Rifle and Pistol Club and several individual members of those
organizations,” DSSA said in a statement.
