BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation today filed a federal lawsuit challenging that state’s “laws, regulations, policies, and enforcement practices” relating to the rights of citizens wanting to bear loaded handguns outside the home, and the case involves two plaintiffs whose rights SAF was instrumental in restoring in a previous federal case.
Joining SAF are the Firearms Policy Coalition and individual citizens Julio Suarez, Daniel Binderup and Daniel Miller. They are represented by attorneys Joshua Prince of Bechtelsville, Penn., and Adam Kraut of Sacramento, Calif. Named as the defendant is Col. Robert Evanchick, commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police, in his official capacity. The case is known as Suarez v. Evanchick, and was filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
“SAF is delighted to once again be helping Julio Suarez and Daniel Binderup,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “We’re proud to have helped these men restore their Second Amendment rights in court a few years ago, and this time we’re joined by our friends at FPC and Mr. Miller.
“As we say in the lawsuit,” he continued, “their rights to bear arms outside the home are being thwarted because of the state’s oppressive criminal statutes and a licensing system that has been closed under a declared emergency since 2018.”
The 64-page complaint notes, “State and local governments, whether legislatively or by executive decree, cannot simply suspend the Constitution. Authorities may not, by decree or otherwise, enact and/or enforce a suspension or deprivation of constitutional liberties.”
“We’re asking the federal court to permanently restrain and enjoin the state from enforcing the laws that created this situation, and we are also asking the court for a summary judgment,” Gottlieb said. “No state or agency should be able to deny the exercise of a constitutionally-protected right under color of state law. We’re confident the court will quickly recognize this problem and correct it.”