Yesterday, NRA-ILA filed an amicus curiae (or friend of the court) brief supporting penalties against local officials who violate Florida’s preemption law with local infringements. This is the second amicus brief that NRA-ILA has filed to protect the Second Amendment freedoms affected by this important case, which is captioned as Fried v. State of Florida.
Florida’s penalties against wayward legislators are critical because they prevent localities from trying to end-run Florida’s gun laws. As the NRA-ILA brief explains, localities cannot unilaterally impose gun-control because Florida has “fully occupied the field of firearm regulation.” Florida’s penalty provisions deter local mischief because they attach personal liability to lawmakers who enact preempted firearm regulations. History proves the necessity of such penalties, as many local officials in this case have already promised additional gun control if they prevail in their appeal. Because the penalty provisions hold local officials accountable for such infringements, NRA-ILA explained to the court how the penalty provisions effectively “hold back a flood of unlawful ordinances.”
In addition to being an effective deterrent, Florida’s penalty provisions defray the high costs of litigation to defend the Second Amendment against those who dislike its guarantees. “Historically, the NRA and its members bore the expense and burden of challenging … unlawful ordinances to protect their fundamental right to keep and bear arms.” Florida’s law rightly shifts undue litigation costs to the local infringers who compelled those costs in the first place.
Without such provisions, overzealous local lawmakers will do what they do best: continuously challenge the Second Amendment and chip away the rights of law-abiding citizens at the high expense of everyone else’s time and resources. As the foremost challenger of the freedoms at stake, NRA-ILA is litigating similar battles in states such as Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Washington. NRA-ILA remains dedicated to fighting government overreach on the Second Amendment wherever it rears its head. You can join our fight here.
Please stay tuned to www.nraila.org for future updates on NRA-ILA’s ongoing efforts to defend your constitutional rights.