BELLEVUE, WA – Attorneys representing the Second Amendment Foundation and its allies in a federal lawsuit challenging a ban on communication, advertising and marketing of products and information to young, current and potential shooters, have filed an emergency motion for a writ of mandamus in the case. The motion was filed with the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
They are challenging the law, adopted by passage of Assembly Bill 2571, which makes it unlawful for any “firearm industry members” to “advertise, market, or arrange for placement of an advertising or marketing communication concerning any firearm-related product in a manner that is designed, intended, or reasonably appears to be attractive to minors.” They are asking for a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the law.
SAF is joined by Junior Sports Magazines Inc., Raymond Brown, California Youth Shooting Sports Association, Inc., Redlands California Youth Clay Shooting Sports, Inc., California Rifle & Pistol Association, Incorporated, The CRPA Foundation and Gun Owners of California. They are represented by attorneys Chuck Michel of Long Beach, Calif., and Don Kilmer of Caldwell, Idaho.
According to the motion, “Relief is needed no later than August 26, 2022. If the Court requires more time to consider this petition, however, effective relief could be had if the district court either (1) agrees to hear Petitioners’ motion for preliminary injunction on a day not usually reserved for law and motion, or (2) elects to decide the matter without hearing on the parties’ papers already on file.”
The motion notes that if relief isn’t granted within the requested time, “Petitioners will suffer ongoing and irreparable harm—i.e., the loss of their fundamental First and Fourteenth Amendment rights—until the district court elects to hear and rule on Petitioners’ pending motion for preliminary injunction.”
“The clock is ticking,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb, “and we’re really running out of time. This law amounts to a restraint on our rights of speech, press and the ability to participate in lawful activities related to the Second Amendment, as well as the First Amendment. Rights delayed are rights denied.”