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CA: DOJ Sues San Jose Over $1,591 Fee to Exercise the Right to Carry
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The Justice Department sued San Jose and its police department on September 16, alleging that the city has put a $1,591 price tag on the constitutional right to carry a firearm for self-defense.
That figure is only San Jose’s municipal application fee. It does not include state charges, fingerprinting, mandatory training, or the applicant-funded psychological evaluation imposed by the San Jose Police Department.
Under the city’s system, a first-time applicant pays $318 up front and another $1,273 when the license is issued. |
DOJ: Federal ban on handgun sales to 18-to-20-year-olds unconstitutional, cannot be criminally enforced
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On Sept. 18, the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel released a legal opinion concluding that the federal prohibition may not be enforced against licensed dealers selling handguns to otherwise law-abiding adults ages 18 to 20 consistent with the Second Amendment.
The Office of Legal Counsel’s new opinion explains that federal statutes 18 U.S.C. § 922(b)(1) and (c)(1) are inconsistent with the Second Amendment as interpreted by the Supreme Court in District of Columbia v. Heller, New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen, and subsequent decisions including Wolford v. Lopez. These statutes generally prohibit federally licensed dealers from selling handguns or handgun ammunition to individuals under 21. |
Ban on selling handguns to young adults under 21 is unconstitutional: U.S. Justice Department
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Federal law banning licensed firearms dealers from selling handguns to young adults under age 21 is unconstitutional and can't be enforced, the Justice Department said in a legal opinion released on Friday (September 19, 2026).
The opinion from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel says the law aimed at making it harder for 18- to 20-year-olds to get handguns violates the Second Amendment. The opinion indicates the Trump administration will not defend or prosecute cases under the law that has been the subject of competing court rulings in the wake of a landmark Supreme Court decision that transformed the legal landscape around firearms. |
NY: SAF Seeks Supreme Court Review in New York 'Sensitive Places' Carry Ban
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"If there's ever a time when a citizen should be allowed to carry a firearm for self-defense, it's in the wilds of New York," said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. "Once the state was forced to issue carry permits following the Supreme Court's decision in Bruen, lawmakers quickly switched tactics to limit where those newly available permits were actually valid. It's nothing more than a different method to reach the same goal – disarm the public and infringe on their Second Amendment rights as much as possible. We will not stand by and allow these lawmakers to determine which constitutional rights citizens can exercise." |
CA: SAF Submits Comments To California DOJ On Barrel Background Check Rules
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“California already prices and papers the right to keep and bear arms nearly out of reach,” said SAF Director of Legal Research and Education Kostas Moros, who signed the letter. “Now it wants a background check just to buy a barrel. If the Department insists on building this system, it should not copy the ammunition regime’s worst feature: rejecting tens of thousands of law-abiding people for a name or address mismatch and never telling them they can still complete a Basic Check.” |
Anti-Gunners Want Canada To Try Where Mexico Failed
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An anti-Second Amendment group that convinced Mexico to launch a failed suit against firearms manufacturers now wants Canada to go to court.
Global Action on Gun Violence (GAGV) announced in a Wednesday release that nearly 85% of what the group labeled as “crime guns” in Canada originated from the United States. GAGV President Jonathan Lowy, a former attorney for Brady United, vowed to end the alleged “pandemic” of violence via litigation similar to a suit Mexico pursued against gun manufacturers during the Biden administration. |
Fifth Circuit Strikes Down Federal Ban on Interstate Handgun Purchases
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The Fifth Circuit has ruled that the federal ban on direct handgun sales violates the Second Amendment.
Elite Precision Customs, Tim Herron, Freddie Blish, and the Firearms Policy Coalition sued the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanch, and Daniel Discholl, Acting Director of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
The 17-page ruling said that the ban on direct sales harmed Elite Precision Customs, a Texas-based firearms manufacturer and dealer, because it can’t sell across state lines. |
DOJ Says Federal Handgun Ban for Adults Under 21 Is Unconstitutional
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The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel has concluded that the federal government cannot constitutionally threaten gun dealers with prison for selling handguns to law-abiding adults between 18 and 20 years old.
In a 49-page opinion issued September 17, Assistant Attorney General T. Elliot Gaiser determined that applying 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(b)(1) and (c)(1) to young adults violates the Second Amendment. Those provisions of the Gun Control Act of 1968 prohibit federally licensed dealers from selling handguns or handgun ammunition to anyone under 21.
The opinion’s conclusion is direct: The statutes “may not be enforced to impose criminal penalties on dealers” who sell handguns to otherwise law-abiding adults between 18 and 20. |
NJ: On The Heels Of California’s Gun Rationing Law’s Demise, FPC Targets New Jersey Next
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Fresh off a victory in which a federal appeals court struck California’s law limiting gun purchases to one every 30 days, the Firearms Policy Coalition is now pushing for the end of New Jersey’s “one-gun-a-month” law.
In mid-August, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued its mandate in FPC’s victory over California’s rationing law, making it the first time the Circuit ever issued a final judgment striking down a law as unconstitutional under the Second Amendment. The ruling followed California Attorney General Bonta’s rare move in which he chose not to ask the circuit to rehear the case en banc. |
UT: Jurors find man not guilty in 2021 road rage shooting
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A man whose homicide conviction was overturned by the Utah Court of Appeals was acquitted on Thursday in his second jury trial.
This time around, Patrick Koaneil Brown took advantage of his right to testify before a jury composed entirely of men. He told them that he thought his car would be hit again or he would be shot at, so he chose to defend himself.
His attorney, Rudy Bautista, said he thinks the testimony from Brown had a "huge impact" on the jurors — it showed that he still has trauma from continuing to try to escape. He testified that the violence escalated to the point he felt like his only choice was to act — he was worried about getting shot or about the man following him to his home and taking the violence to his family. |
GA: Shooting in Grovetown sends one to the hospital
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Simmons continued to hit his brother who finally shot a round into Simmons’ leg.
Deputies say that the brother soon dialed 911 and remained on the line until units arrived.
Simmons was then stabilized by the Grovetown Fire Department and sent to a local hospital for treatment, according to reports.
Deputies say that at this time charges are pending for Simmons and he will be taken into custody upon release from the hospital.
GPD also said that there are no charges anticipated for the brother who shot Simmons. |
SAF Attorney Publishes Second Law Review Article
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Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) attorney and Director of Legal Research and Education Konstadinos T. Moros has published his second law review article today, arguing that special taxes targeting common firearms and ammunition violate the Second Amendment.
The paper, Excising the Second Amendment: Why Taxes Targeting Common Firearms Are Unconstitutional, applies the historical test required by New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. It concludes that excise taxes singling out firearms, ammunition and related items – rather than applying generally to all goods – have no well-established analogue in the nation’s tradition of firearm regulation and are therefore unconstitutional. |
OH: Ohio teen charged with murder after allegedly shooting brother during attack on mom
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An 18-year-old Ohio teen is facing a murder charge after his 22-year-old brother was fatally shot inside their family home on Wednesday, September 16. His family says the shooting happened as the older brother was allegedly attacking their mother, sister and cousin.
The case has raised questions over the teen’s claim of defending his family, with his attorney calling it a case of “self-defense and defense of others.” However, authorities have charged him with murder, and he remains in custody on a $1 million bond. |
MO: Sheriff, AG sue to end some firearm registrations
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Dave Marshak, the Jefferson County sheriff, said he joined a lawsuit to eliminate federal registration requirements for short-barreled rifles and suppressors, also called silencers, to protect the rights of law-abiding gun owners.
On Sept. 8, Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway and Marshak filed the lawsuit against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.
Marshak said he is participating in the lawsuit as a state resident and not as the sheriff. He said Jefferson County will not pay any money to help finance the suit or cover his legal expenses. |
AR-15 Assault Weapon Ban Reaches Supreme Court as First Briefs Land
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The AR-15 assault weapon ban challenge is before the Supreme Court of the United States, with petitioners in the consolidated cases of Viramontes v. Cook County (No. 25-238) and Grant v. Higgins (No. 25-566) filing their opening brief on 28 August. Law firm Cooper & Kirk represents petitioners in both cases. Oral argument is scheduled for 2 December, with a decision expected in June 2027.
The petitioners’ opening brief frames the question presented as: ‘Whether the Second and Fourteenth Amendments guarantee the right to possess AR-15 platform and similar semiautomatic rifles.’ The brief characterises such rifles as ‘arms’ within the plain text of the Second Amendment, arguing they are in common use and thus constitutionally protected. |
SAF Attorney Kostas Moros Argues California’s 11% Gun ‘Sin Tax’ and Colorado’s 6.5% Levy Fail Bruen in New Law Review Article
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The argument is simple. Under Bruen, a modern gun regulation has to line up with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation. Moros went looking for that tradition on taxes and says it is not there. Before 1900, the few American laws that taxed weapons were limited to items like bowie knives and pocket pistols, weapons many people of the time treated as outside Second Amendment protection. Those laws were outliers concentrated in Southern states, and some applied only when the weapon was carried, not when it was purchased. Almost without exception, they left the prevailing combat and self-defense arms of the day alone. |
Appeals Court Rules Federal Ban on Interstate Handgun Sales Unconstitutional
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The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2–1 against the federal government’s ban on interstate transfers of handguns on Sept. 18, finding the nearly 60-year-old law was unconstitutional.
The ruling reverses provisions of the Gun Control Act of 1968 that prohibit handguns from being sold directly from licensed firearms dealers to buyers across state lines.
“The ban sullies the plain text of the Second Amendment and is inconsistent with the nation’s tradition of firearms regulation, dating back to the founding era, under that Amendment,” Circuit Judge Jerry Smith wrote in the ruling. |
Gun Rights at 18? Trump's DOJ Just Made a Major Second Amendment Call
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Thanks to President Donald Trump's Department of Justice (DOJ), law-abiding citizens between the ages of 18 and 20 now have more of the same Second Amendment rights as those 21 and over regarding the purchase of handguns and handgun ammunition.
According to the DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel, a bombshell report published Friday revealed a legal opinion that decided a federal prohibition preventing licensed dealers from selling handguns to law-abiding adults under 21 is no longer criminally enforceable. |
Breaking: 5th Circuit Rules That Interstate Handgun Purchase Ban Is Unconstitutional
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A federal appeals court has struck down the federal government’s ban on direct interstate handgun purchases, ruling that the law violates the Second Amendment.
On September 18, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in the case Elite Precision Customs v. ATF held that the law didn’t meet constitutional muster, reversed the lower court’s dismissal of the case and rendered judgment for the Firearm Policy Coalition and its co-plaintiffs Elite Precision Customs LLC and FPC members Tim Herron and Freddie Blish. |
IL: Masked Robber Picks Armed Illinois Driver at Gas Pump—and Gets Shot
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An Illinois concealed-carry license holder shot a masked, armed robbery suspect who reportedly approached him while he was pumping gas at an Orland Park Shell station. It is a textbook example of why the Second Amendment protects the right to carry a firearm in public—not merely the right to keep one locked away at home.
The confrontation unfolded at approximately 9 a.m. on September 15 at the Shell station at 15100 Harlem Avenue. According to the Orland Park Police Department’s account, reported by CBS Chicago, officers responded after receiving 911 calls reporting gunfire in the parking lot. |
‘I Am Home’: Tate Adamiak Returns to Family After Trump Pardon
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Patrick “Tate” Adamiak is finally home. The former Navy sailor, who received a full and unconditional pardon from President Donald Trump after spending roughly four years in federal prison, announced his return to his family Wednesday in a deeply personal statement thanking those who refused to let his case disappear.
“After four and a half years and the biggest fight of my life, I am home,” Adamiak wrote on X.
The accompanying photograph shows Adamiak standing with his family before an American flag and a Betsy Ross flag. It is a fitting image for a case that became a national warning about what can happen when federal gun regulators, prosecutors, and courts are allowed to stretch technical firearm laws beyond recognition. |
WA: What’s The Growing Price Of Freedom In Washington State? $126 Just To Get Started
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The “commonsense” part must be something that Gov. Ferguson doesn’t possess himself. It doesn’t take much sense, common or otherwise, to know that making law-abiding citizens pay more money to practice a constitutional right isn’t going to effect the so-called “gun violence” that he says, “breaks apart too many families.”
According to the Permit to Purchase portal created by the state, the cost of applying for the five-year permit will be $126. Of that total, $96 is for the permit application and $36 is a fingerprint processing fee. On top of that $36, the agency conducting the fingerprinting may also charge a fee for taking the prints, pushing the cost up even higher. Renewal of the permit will cost $90. |
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