FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEWS ADVISORY
January 8, 2014
For More Information, contact:
Luther Strange
Mike Lewis (334) 353-2199
Alabama Attorney General
Joy Patterson (334) 242-7491
Claire Haynes (334) 242-7351
Page 1 of 1
AG STRANGE JOINS AMICUS BRIEF OPPOSING
UNCONSTITUTIONAL LOCKED-GUN STORAGE LAW
(Montgomery) – Attorney General Luther Strange has joined an amicus brief
filed by the State of Nebraska and 25 other States asking the U.S. Supreme Court to
overturn a San Francisco ordinance which infringes upon the Second Amendment
rights of gun owners who wish to protect themselves in their homes.
The brief was filed in the case of Jackson v. San Francisco in opposition to a San
Francisco law requiring that guns be stored in a locked container, or with a trigger lock,
at all times inside the home except when the homeowner is actually carrying the
firearm. The locked-gun storage requirement ordinance was upheld by the Ninth
Circuit Court.
“This ordinance violates the right to keep and bear arms as protected by the
Second Amendment,” said Attorney General Strange. “This requirement, in effect,
renders it virtually impossible for occupants of a home to protect themselves with a
firearm since most people don’t have time to unlock and remove their guns from
storage during an attack.”
Attorney General Strange and the other Attorneys General asserted in the amicus
brief that the U.S. Supreme Court had previously ruled in a similar case, District of
Columbia v. Heller, that “citizens must be permitted ‘to use [handguns] for the core
lawful purpose of self defense.'”
“Under this Court’s precedent, San Francisco’s ordinance must be stricken
because its restrictions extend to possession of a firearm by a law-abiding, responsible
citizen for self-defense in the home,” Attorney General Strange and the other Attorneys
General noted in the amicus brief.
In addition to Alabama, the States joining Nebraska in the amicus brief are
Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota,
Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin and
Wyoming.
-30-
501 Washington Avenue * Montgomery, AL 36104 * (334) 242-7300
www.ago.alabama.gov
