BELLEVUE, WA – Responding to the court’s request for additional information in the Second Amendment Foundation’s long-running case of Pena v. Lindley, a lawsuit challenging the state handgun roster requirements that include microstamping and magazine disconnects, a supplemental brief filed yesterday by attorney Alan Gura that included an additional declaration by Lawrence G. Keane, secretary and general counsel to the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute (SAAMI).
Keane is also senior vice president and general counsel to the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF). In his statement, Keane told the court that, “To date, I am not aware of a single handgun manufacturer worldwide that has produce a functioning, commercially available semiautomatic pistol designed and equipped with ‘a microscopic array of characters that identify the make, model, and serial number of the pistol’ etched or otherwise imprinted in two or more places on the interior surface or internal working parts of the pistol…”
“It is important for the court to understand that the microstamping requirements now included in California’s law simply cannot be met,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “We are delighted and grateful that a reliable and knowledgeable representative for SAAMI and NSSF has weighed in.”
Keane’s detailed brief reinforces earlier documents submitted by Glock, Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger.
“Our challenge to California’s statute now includes important support information from recognized experts,” Gottlieb observed. “Clearly, our arguments are backed up by facts and technical information that shows the state’s requirements are not simply unreasonable, but cannot possibly be met any time in the foreseeable future. In short, California has passed a law for which compliance is impossible.”
The case was originally filed in 2009 as a challenge to California’s regulation that arbitrarily bans handguns based on a roster of “acceptable” handgun models approved by the state. The revised case addresses microstamping, which has made it even harder to legally purchase a handgun in the Golden State.