On Monday, March 21, 2016, the Supreme Court of the United States held that the Second Amendment applies to all instruments that constitute bearable arms. The decision of the court was unanimous. The case, known as Caetano v Massachusetts, dealt with a Massachusetts law that prohibited stun guns. The law was upheld by the Massachusetts Supreme Court, but was overturned by the United States Supreme Court. In the decision ordering the law to be vacated, the court stated that the Second Amendment applied to arms that were not in existence at the time of the founding. In short, that means that the AR15 and a variety of other arms are now protected. Before we all begin dancing in the streets, remember we will be forced to slog through the courts, case by case. Remember that the next President will replace as many as four or five Supreme Court Justices, so that may change.
Talk about a long reach! Congratulations to David Sigale, who represents the ISRA and Second Amendment Foundation in several cases, for winning a case in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). CNMI is part of the United States that many people do not even know about. Saipan is part of the island group that was acquired during the island hopping campaign against the Japanese, during WWII. CNMI passed a law that made it Illegal to own a handgun or import ammunition, rendering people unable to defend themselves. In 2008, David Radich, a U.S. Navy Veteran, and his wife, Li-Rong moved to Saipan. In 2010, Li-Rong was home alone when invaders broke in and savagely beat her. Because of the CNMI law, they were defenseless against such attacks. Radich and the Second Amendment Foundation filed suit against the CNMI law and won. Judge Ramona V. Manglona struck down the law as unconstitutional – another nail in the coffin of the anti-gun movement. Thank you David Sigale.
I have a few points on the IGOLD front. As you know, IGOLD is Wednesday April 6th. We have just confirmed our last two guest speakers. They are Chip Eberhart, from Chicago, who does one of the NRA’s “I am the NRA and I am Freedoms safest place” ads and another is an old friend of mine, the famous self-defense instructor, Mr. Massad Ayoob. I couldn’t be more pleased. We have a couple of the great ones for you to hear and meet. The final point is that the cut-off for making bus reservations is noon on Monday April 4. I would “Git-R-Done!” The ISRA office will open on Saturday, April 2, 2016, from 8:00am – 12 noon so you can call in your IGOLD bus reservations. See you at IGOLD!
