Friday, February 22, 2013

AG Schmidt asks US Supreme Court to favor Second Amendment rights

News Release

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt has joined attorneys general from 19 other states in asking the US Supreme Court to affirm the Second Amendment rights of citizens who wish to lawfully carry concealed handguns outside their homes.

They attorneys general have asked the Supreme Court to review a lower federal court’s ruling that had upheld the authority of a state to limit the right to keep and bear arms to an individual’s home and also had allowed states to require that a permit application show a reason the permit is needed.

“The Second Amendment clearly protects the rights of our citizens to keep and bear arms, and in 2010 Kansas voters made clear their view that the right to keep and bear arms is an individual right,” Schmidt said. “Legally permitted concealed carry of handguns falls within that right and the Supreme Court should affirm that. This is an opportunity for the Supreme Court to clarify its recent decisions in favor of Second Amendment rights.”

The pending case is Kachalsky v. Cacaces.

The states petitioning the US Supreme Court include Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia.