SIG SAUER Makes Gun Rights History
Earlier this month something historic happened — SIG SAUER became the first-ever “Double Diamond” multi-year corporate sponsor of the Second Amendment Foundation. This gun rights organization has been around for more than 40 years, and has become a legal powerhouse on gun rights issues.
SAF’s most famous victory was in McDonald v. City of Chicago — the 2010 Supreme Court ruling that not only nullified the Windy City’s 30-year ban on handguns, but also incorporated the Second Amendment to the states via the 14th Amendment. This was even more important than District of Columbia v. Heller in 2008, because now all state laws are subject to Second Amendment scrutiny. With the current Supreme Court, some of those laws could be in trouble.
The late Otis McDonald of Chicago lawsuit fame (left) is shown with SAF’s Alan Gottlieb, receiving a Lifetime Achievement award for his precedent-setting Supreme Court win.
The high court is considering the constitutionality of New York’s concealed carry permit law and the way it’s administered. If the court honestly adheres to the Second Amendment, many suggest New York’s law is toast, and along with it the laws in neighboring New Jersey, Maryland, California, Massachusetts and a handful of other states.
The announcement didn’t get all the attention it should have, perhaps because the establishment media doesn’t like to acknowledge any pro-rights group exists other than the National Rifle Association, and they simply don’t care to announce good news to a firearms civil rights group.
For example, when SAF won the Chicago case, some of the media erroneously said it was an NRA victory. Others simply reported that a “gun rights group” was behind the lawsuit challenging the city’s gun control law. The lead plaintiff in that case was the late Otis McDonald, a man I had the pleasure of interviewing twice and meeting a few times.
McDonald merely wanted a gun to keep in his home because he lived in an unsavory environment. He was one of the most gentle of gentlemen from the proverbial “old school.” He was soft spoken, polite and courageous, not just for taking on a city run by rotten politics, but because it was widely known he wanted a gun to fight back.
"An Honor"
In announcing its sponsorship, SIG SAUER, whose domestic operation is headquartered in New Hampshire, did not downplay the significance of this development.
“It’s an honor for SIG SAUER to contribute to the important work of the Second Amendment Foundation and join forces with their 700,000 plus membership to defend our constitutional rights to privately own and possess firearms,” said Tom Taylor, Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President, Commercial Sales, SIG SAUER, Inc., in a prepared statement. “The Second Amendment is under constant attack and the legal activism, education, and resources provided by the Second Amendment Foundation is absolutely essential to stopping the encroachment on our constitutional rights and ensuring that the Second Amendment is preserved for future generations.”
SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb was overwhelmed that a company of Sig’s prestige has thrown its weight behind the foundation’s efforts.
“This unprecedented commitment from SIG SAUER is simply awesome,” Gottlieb said. “To have this legendary company as our very first Double Diamond sponsor underscores the importance of our legal and educational efforts. I am both humbled and grateful at this level of support for our efforts to defend the right to keep and bear arms.
“SIG SAUER’s commitment will guarantee that SAF can continue winning firearms freedom one lawsuit at a time,” Gottlieb added.
Corporate Support Growing
Over the past couple of years, SAF’s position has grown in the firearms community and as a result, corporate support has been expanding.
Sporting Systems is the single “Platinum sponsor,” while there are five “Gold sponsors” backing the foundation: Henry, Armed American Radio, Gun Talk Radio, the U.S. Concealed Carry Association and Daniel Defense. Silver sponsorships are provided by Dillon Precision, Luth-AR, the Silencer Shop, Rainier Arms and U.S. Law Shield.
Gottlieb and nationally-syndicated radio host Mark Walters from Armed American Radio, one of SAF’s “Gold” level sponsors.
There’s also a Bronze sponsorship level, which includes Ammo.com, Kahr Arms, Magnum Research and Thompson/Auto-Ordnance.
So, what’s this all about? SAF has been winning in court, turning back various gun control laws, ever since the 2010 McDonald victory. That high court ruling opened the floodgates, allowing challenges of gun laws that don’t pass the constitutional smell test.
The best example of this was an earlier challenge of a gun control law in New York City by the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association. NYSRPA is behind the current Supreme Court case but two years ago, when the court announced it would actually hear the case challenging New York City’s extremist gun law—which prohibited the owners of legally-licensed handguns from taking their sidearms outside the city for any reason (i.e., vacations, pistol matches, advanced training)—the city literally tripped over itself scrambling to change the law.
What the scramble strongly suggested is that the city knew all along its restrictive gun law was unconstitutional and they did not want the high court to say so. This would have given a victory to the gun rights community and endangering other gun control laws.
This time around, the state didn’t scurry to avoid a smackdown. Many believe this will happen in late June as the Supreme Court wraps up its current term.
Fighting Back
Anti-gun bullies who evidently never thought people would fight back are learning just how wrong they’ve been. SAF has been flexing its muscle in dozens of court cases across the country, from Guam to New England. The organization has filed so many lawsuits in Illinois alone it’s hard to keep track of them all.
Gottlieb has worked on gun rights issues for more than 40 years, first backing scholarship and research to bring the Second Amendment to its rightful place in the Bill of Rights, and more recently filing legal challenges to extremist gun control laws across the country.
It is the culmination of a project that started more than four decades ago, with SAF bringing together a small group of then-young firebrand attorneys and legal scholars. Go through a history of the modern gun rights movement and one will stumble across such names as David Hardy, Joyce Lee Malcolm, the late Don B. Kates, Stephen Halbrook and David Kopel. What they were writing and talking about decades ago—that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms—caused academia at the time to dismiss it as folly, but today is the law of the land.
They carved pathways, which included workshops and the creation of the annual Gun Rights Policy Conference, co-sponsored by SAF and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. Those conferences brought together the brightest minds and the scrappiest of grassroots activists to create the movement. With growing financial support from giants like SIG SAUER, Gottlieb told me he is rolling up his sleeves in preparation for what may come over the horizon.
A victory over New York could restore the full force behind the words “to bear arms.” As Gottlieb has explained many times, a right limited to the confines of someone’s home is no right at all, but a government-regulated privilege. The New York case is not a SAF case, but the organization did file a forceful amicus brief. If NYSRPA emerges victorious, it would be a safe wager to expect SAF to pick up that ball and run.
Also in the News: Winchester Gets Army Contract
Winchester recently was awarded a $13 million small arms ammunition contract by the U.S. Army for small arms ammunition.
According to a news release, the money is “for the development of manufacturing processes for the 7.62mm cartridge.
Work on this contract will be performed at the Lake City Army Ammunition plant in Independence, MO. It is the United States’ only government-owned and contractor-operated small caliber ammunition production facility, according to the news release.
