(6/28/2010) -- Today the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in the McDonald case to incorporate the Second Amendment to the States, and even cited Rocky Mountain Gun Owners' amicus brief.

The court cited RMGO's brief, written by MSLF's Jim Manley, as proof that "A clear majority of the States in 1868, therefore, recognized the right to keep and bear arms as being among the foundational rights necessary to our system of Government."  (You can find the citation on page 30 of the decision, footnote 27)

Combined with the the 2008 Heller case, these rulings bring many more questions about what they actually do. 

Understand that this case, like the Heller case before it, were challenges to two of the United States' most egregious and offensive gun control laws. 

Whether McDonald's decision, written by Justice Alito, can be used to strike down regulatory gun schemes that don't make an outright ban remains to be seen.

But, to summarize this decision succinctly: Now we have another tool in the battle against gun control.

This case, however, doesn’t have arms or legs.  It won’t get up out of it’s legal folder and slay gun control laws on it’s own. 

This changes how a few battles might be fought, but not where the battles –- or the war –- are going to be fought.

That’s why we created the Second Amendment Legal Defense Fund for Colorado.

With it, we will challenge illegal and unconstitutional gun controls across the state.

Now, the truth be told, we're already been doing this.  The city of Aurora was blatantly violating Colorado state law by arresting citizens who carried concealed handguns in their vehicles without a permit (C.R.S. 18-12-204 explicitly allows concealed handguns in vehicles with or without a permit), and needed some stern correction. 

To Aurora's credit, they have modified their city ordinance to conform to existing state law -- but only because Rocky Mountain Gun Owners and our Legal Research team held their feet to the fire.  More on that later.

Of course, there's also the CSU Campus Carry issue, and the CU court case (where "Republican" Regent Tillie Bishop voted last Friday with the board's Democrats to continue the ban).

In other words, we're working on many fronts to defend your rights with the law.

So we've decided to formalize our efforts.

The Second Amendment Legal Defense Fund for Colorado will poke it's nose where the bureaucrats and gun banners really get mad:  into city ordinances and arcane municipal rules to force them to recognize your right to keep and bear arms.

But it won't happen by itself: we have to hire attorneys and do the footwork to get these cases moving.

That's why we need your help with the Legal Defense Fund for  Colorado.

The Supreme Court decision was a good one.  But now it's opened up a whole new battlefield.

In other words, the work just started.

Sincerely,

Dudley Brown
Executive Director

P.S.  Today's Supreme Court ruling was a victory, but it won't do anything by itself.

We must aggressively attack gun control at every turn, and using today's decision, stamp out the unconstitutional regulations and bans at every level, including state and municipal.

That's why we created the Second Amendment Legal Defense Fund for Colorado.

We hope you'll donate to that fund today!

P.P.S.  You can read the RMGO amicus brief here, and today's entire Supreme Court decision, here.