Governor Abbott Files Amicus Brief Supporting California Citizens’ Second Amendment Rights
Governor Greg Abbott today filed an amicus brief in support of a lawsuit brought by a coalition of California citizens and the California Rifle and Pistol Association Foundation against the County of San Diego to vindicate their Second Amendment rights. This lawsuit is currently in front of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
“The Second Amendment does not create second-class rights and states cannot choose which Constitutional rights their citizens can exercise,” Governor Abbott said. “The right of citizens to keep and bear arms should never be weakened or eliminated for political expediency, and the judgment of the district court should be wholly reversed.”
In his brief, Governor Abbott makes two arguments: California is wrong on the law—States cannot treat the Second Amendment differently from other Constitutional rights; and California is wrong on the facts—statistics show that licensing law-abiding citizens to carry concealed handguns poses no public safety threat.
Governor Abbott writes, “When it comes to regulating gun rights, California thinks that the State can do things that would be unthinkable in other areas of constitutional law.” The brief goes on to point out that “if this were a case about speech, the right to counsel, or any of the myriad of rights protected in the Fourteenth Amendment, every federal court in this country would reject California’s arguments out of hand.”
The brief explains that California thinks it can undermine the Second Amendment on the grounds of “public safety.” However, data collected by the Texas Department of Public Safety over the past decade shows that “CHL [Concealed Handgun License] holders are more than 10 times less likely to commit a crime in Texas as compared to the general population” and “even for crimes that often or always involve guns—such as aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, or deadly conduct involving discharge of a firearm—the crime rate for CHL holders is dramatically smaller than for the general population.”