BELLEVUE, WA – Oral arguments in the Second Amendment Foundation’s challenge of Connecticut’s ban on so-called “assault weapons” are scheduled Wednesday, Oct. 16 at 2 p.m. (EDT) before the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.
The public can listen to the arguments via this link beginning at 2 p.m. (EDT)
SAF is joined in the case by the Connecticut Citizens Defense League and three private citizens, Jennifer Hamilton, Michael Stiefel and Eddie Grant, Jr. They are represented by Connecticut attorneys Doug Dubitsky of North Windham, Craig C. Fishbein of Wallingford and Cameron L. Atkinson of Harwinton. The case is known as Grant v. Lamont.
The case was originally filed in September 2022. It alleges the Connecticut statute is a “one-size-fits-all” measure in which firearms previously identified as “any other firearm” by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were suddenly reclassified as “rifles” or “short-barreled rifles.” They all became “assault weapons” under the state’s definition.
“From the beginning,” noted SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb, “the state has insisted these firearms are not ‘in common use.’ The evidence clearly shows otherwise, yet the state wants the Court to adopt an unprecedented legal standard in contradiction to standards established by the Second Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court.”
“The state’s arguments essentially defy the Supreme Court’s standards set down in the 2022 Bruen ruling,” SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut observed.