REP. MARK HOMER SIGNS DOCUMENT DEFENDING TEXANS'

SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS

PARIS – Rep. Mark Homer (D- Paris) signed on to the National Rifle Association amicus curiae brief as a supporter of Second Amendment rights for all United States citizens.

The amicus curiae (Friend of the Court) brief that Rep. Homer has signed went to the Supreme Court yesterday in the highly controversial case of McDonald vs. Chicago. The case will address the application of the Second Amendment to the states through either the Due Process clause or the Privileges or Immunities clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The case has major implications for the legality of restrictive gun laws not only in Chicago, but also in other cities and the states across the nation.

"Being an individual who believes in gun owner rights for all law-abiding American citizens, I thought it was extremely important to sign-on to this," said Rep. Homer.

The amicus curiae brief in McDonald v. Chicago supports a legal challenge by Otis McDonald, a community activist who lives in a high-crime Chicago neighborhood. McDonald’s work to improve his neighborhood subjected him to violent threats from drug dealers, but City of Chicago ordinances prohibit him from obtaining a handgun to protect himself.

Last year, in District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court overturned a Washington, D.C., law that banned all handguns and required that rifles and shotguns be disassembled or weighed down by trigger locks at all times. In a landmark 2008 decision, the Court declared the federal city’s handgun ban unconstitutional, holding that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms.

The City of Chicago contends that the Second Amendment does not protect citizens from municipal action that nullifies the constitution because it claims the Supreme Court’s decision in the Heller case does not apply to state and local governments. The brief refutes that argument, stating that the Constitutional protections apply to – and therefore limit – cities, counties, and other local governmental entities throughout the U.S. under the Fourteenth Amendment.

If Chicago’s unconstitutional gun ban were allowed to stand, millions of Americans could be deprived of their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms as a result of actions by local governments, such as the ordinances challenged in this case.

"I hope the Supreme Court will follow the Constitution’s true meaning and rule in favor of allowing all law-abiding Americans the right to keep and bear arms," Homer concluded.

The Supreme Court is expected to hear the McDonald case in February 2010.

For more information on this or any other issue, Rep. Homer encourages interested individuals to contact his offices at (903) 784-0977 or (512) 971-3775, or visit his website at www.markhomer.com.

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