Word: halbrook
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...part of the populist state-sovereignty movement, the sense there is so much power in Washington," says Stephen P. Halbrook, a Virginia attorney who has argued several important Second Amendment cases before the Supreme Court, including, most recently, a successful case overturning the Washington, D.C., gun ban. Halbrook says the Montana initiative had been simmering long before President Obama's election, which led to reports of a run on gun and ammunition across the country because of fear of new federal curtailment or taxation of gun ownership. "It is a grass-roots thing," Halbrook says, "not an NRA [National Rifle...
...likely the Montana law will end up before the Supreme Court, Halbrook says, following the same track as the landmark Printz v. United States case, which he argued successfully before the court. That case was filed in Helena, Mont., challenging the constitutionality of requiring local enforcement officers to perform background checks required by the federal Brady Act, regulating handgun sales. The district court found the requirement unconstitutional but was overturned by the more liberal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The lower court decision was affirmed by the Supreme Court in 1997, four years after the Brady...
...Montana law will go into effect on Oct. 1, and the ensuing legal battle will be long, perhaps three years or more, Halbrook says. Helmke expects the Brady Campaign to join the fight. The Printz decision was a 5-4 split with the majority opinion written by Justice Antonin Scalia, but this latest challenge could be heard by a court sitting in Obama's second term or his successor's, meaning it will likely be a court with a different lineup...
...least one prominent gun rights advocate admits that the 1968 gun-buying mental health standard might give people like Cho too much benefit of the doubt. Stephen P. Halbrook, a constitutional lawyer who recently was involved in the appeals court victory for gun rights advocates challenging the Washington, D.C., handgun prohibition law, thinks the time may have come for a reconsideration of those 1968 guidelines. "I'm not going to advocate new restrictions, with the exception that it should be at least a consideration that people with disabilities who have been adjudicated to be mentally ill and a danger...
...Halbrook cautions that any new restriction should not be too broadly drawn to include all voluntary commitments, since some individuals seek help after the loss of a loved one or traumatic event in their lives, and there should be a recognition that seeking help is valuable "first step on the road to recovery" for any mental illness. But he said there can be consensus on developing an amendment to the federal standards to address cases like Cho's, provided the voluntary commitment involves a doctor and judge and it is concluded the person is a danger to himself or others...