Frequently Searched

Goldwater Institute Urges Supreme Court to Respect Second Amendment Rights

October 3, 2023

The Goldwater Institute teamed up with the Cato Institute today to file a brief in an important Second Amendment case now pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. The case—one of only a handful of Second Amendment cases ever to come before the court—involves a federal law that prohibits anyone who has been subjected to a domestic violence restraining order from possessing a firearm. It’s certainly reasonable to want to keep violent criminals from using guns, but as we argue in the brief, this law goes far beyond reasonable regulations.

In fact, it entirely disarms anyone who has been subjected to such an order from having a gun—even if that person has a special need for one, or lives in an entirely different state from the person who got the restraining order. And a person against whom an order is issued has no right even to be informed that the order will entirely bar him or her from having a gun.

We don’t treat other individual rights this way. As the brief notes, “the threadbare procedures set forth in [the federal law] would be considered woefully inadequate to support the abrogation of other fundamental rights such as the ability to petition the government for redress of grievances by attending a city council meeting, or accessing the Internet, or traveling about the country. The right of armed self-defense is no less important and no less entitled to an appropriate measure of procedural due process.”

You can read the brief here.

Timothy Sandefur is the Vice President for Legal Affairs at the Goldwater Institute.

 

 

More on this issue

Donate Now

Help all Americans live freer, happier lives. Join the Goldwater Institute as we defend and strengthen freedom in all 50 states.

Donate Now

Since 1988, the Goldwater Institute has been in the liberty business — defending and promoting freedom, and achieving more than 400 victories in all 50 states. Donate today to help support our mission.

We Protect Your Rights

Our attorneys defend individual rights and protect those who cannot protect themselves.

Need Help? Submit a case.

Get Connected to Goldwater

Sign up for the latest news, event updates, and more.

Wait! Don’t close this yet!

We are grateful for your support of the Goldwater Institute’s efforts to advance and defend liberty throughout the United States. For over 36 years, we’ve been defending the rights of Americans to live their lives free from government interference.

And Goldwater is unique in that we direct our efforts to the 50 states where we introduce and advance innovative ideas that expand freedom. And we fight in courtrooms and capitals nationwide to defend individual liberty.

In 2024 alone, we scored over 50 policy and litigation victories defending liberty!

And that’s just the beginning.

Our plans for 2025 include:

  • Stopping pernicious DEI and other woke programs in America’s universities.
  • Ensuring that patients suffering from rare and terminal diseases have access to cutting-edge, lifesaving medical treatments, without having to first seek permission from the government.
  • Defending parental rights across the United States so that parents can send their kids to the school that best fits their needs, free from leftist indoctrination.
  • Eliminating government interference in the fundamental right of individuals to own property and use it as they see fit.
  • And much, much more

We seek to restore the presumption of liberty; that people are free to act without first asking permission from the government.

But we cannot do this without you. Will you join us as we fight to preserve and advance liberty throughout the country? As we seek new and innovative ways to defend freedom in all 50 states?

And there’s great news: Thanks to a generous Goldwater supporter, your donation today will be doubled!

So please, join us in fighting to advance liberty and score real wins for freedom from coast to coast!