GOAL Files Court Brief in Defense of McDonald Decision

In early October Gun Owners’ Action League filed a friend of the court brief (Amicus Curiae) at the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (Mass SJC). The brief was filed in the case of Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Aaron Powell (SJC-10783). The case involved the arrest and conviction of an 18 year old Massachusetts resident in possession of a handgun without a license. The person in question had no known previous criminal record.

GOAL’s interest in the case came when the Mass SJC specifically called for the case without it going through the normal appeals process first. This fact alone sent up red flags that the court might be taking an activist role in any gun case post Heller and McDonald. Knowing this, the GOAL Board felt it necessary to file an Amicus Brief to make sure that the U.S. Supreme Court rulings on the protections of the Second Amendment were not undone by the Mass SJC. GOAL hired Attorney Ed George to file the brief on our behalf citing two very specific concerns with the case.

The first is that the Massachusetts laws prohibiting 18, 19 and 20 year old adults from obtaining a handgun license is in affect an outright ban. Such an outright ban on adults exercising their Constitutional rights was expressly shot down in both Heller and McDonald.

The second concern was to try to ensure that the Massachusetts courts apply the highest level of scrutiny when it comes to laws restricting the Second Amendment as a fundamental right. There is no specific timeline as to when the Court will hand down a ruling in this case. One thing that is certain is that both locally and nationally the enemies of the Second Amendment are going to conduct a scorched earth retreat. Their efforts are going to be focused on eviscerating our civil rights by attempting to make Heller and McDonald as narrow as possible. It is our job to make sure that doesn’t happen.

These court actions cost GOAL thousands of dollars, if you would like to make a donation that will help us continue this fight to defend our civil rights you can do so online here, or you can mail a check to GOAL P.O. Box 567, Northborough, MA 01532.

GOAL Blog on original briefs
SJC web page on the case
Video of oral arguments

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