A judge appointed by President George Bush in 2007 granted a permanent injunction against the Cortland, New York public housing corporation Tuesday, marking a double victory for the U.S. Constitution. This law allows officials of the federally funded Cortland Housing Authority (CHA) to enforce unconstitutional lease language that violates the Second Amendment's right to keep and bear arms; and prohibits government agencies from interfering with the First Amendment guarantee of free speech on Facebook. Pages and other social media.
Apparently, before filing the lawsuit in January of this year, three plaintiffs, Robert Hunter, Elmer Irwin, and Doug Mellin, used the CHA's Facebook page and other social media to promote constitutional amendments. It had accused the authorities of violating its Article 2 rights. And apparently the authorities have shut down those derogatory comments.
injunction
According to the contract signed by the plaintiffs, they were obligated to
Not to display, use or possess, or permit any member of Tenant's family or guests to display, use or possess, any firearms or other weapons anywhere on CHA's premises.
According to Judge Glenn Suddaby of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, both the plaintiff and the defendant
Provides that the court shall grant and issue a permanent injunction restraining defendants from enforcing the Firearms Prohibition Act or any other firearms prohibition ordinance against plaintiffs and other CHA tenants.
The judge also provided that future lease changes would also protect the tenant's Second Amendment rights.
Defendants warrant that the CHA Lease…and any future modifications, compilations, iterations, or versions of the CHA Lease will comply in all respects with the Second Amendment and will not violate the Second Amendment in any respect.
The injunction also prohibits CHA from censoring social media pages.
Defendants, and their respective employees, agents, representatives, service providers and/or contractors, do not guarantee any access by any person to CHA's social media pages or message forums, including without limitation CHA's Facebook page. The defendants are: Censoring or removing any comments, expressions, ideas, likes, messages, opinions, or postings of individuals on CHA's social media pages or message forums is prohibited unless such content violates the social media entity's terms of use. It is being platform or provider.
The settlement also requires CHA to pay the plaintiffs' legal costs of $150,000.
There shouldn't have been a need for a suit
But Second Amendment opponents continue to play a game of whack-a-mole.
In 1995, the National Rifle Association (NRA) successfully sued a public housing authority in Portland, Maine, alleging that its lease contained such unconstitutional language.
In 2010, the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), which assisted the Cortland plaintiffs, provided legal assistance in McDonald v. City of Chicago. At that time, the Supreme Court ruled that “the right to keep and bear arms for self-defense in the home is protected by the Second Amendment.”
In 2012, SAF successfully sued the Warren County Housing Authority in Warren County, Illinois. Similar prohibitions were included in the rental agreement.
In 2019, SAF worked with the Illinois Rifle Association to successfully sue the East St. Louis Housing Authority. That entity also had similar unconstitutional language in its lease agreement.
And in 2022, SAF assisted Kinsley Braden in a lawsuit against Columbia (Tennessee) Housing and Redevelopment over language that violated Kinsley Braden's Second Amendment right to bear arms in his public housing apartment. did.
The decision in the case, written by Judge Frank Clement of the Tennessee Court of Appeals, was supposed to permanently end the issue.
In light of the Supreme Court's most recent decision in Bruen, and bearing in mind that Columbia Housing's policy based on the Supreme Court's decision in Heller is likely unconstitutional, we fully endorse residents' ability to comply with the law. We conclude that a ban is a complete prohibition on the ability of law-abiding residents like Mr. David. BLADEN — Possession of a handgun in public housing for self-defense is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment.
How many more similar lawsuits will we have to file?
SAF Chief Adam Kraut said:
At some point, it should become abundantly clear to the various public housing authorities that gun bans are not allowed. As each of our victories over the years confirms, residents don't give up their constitutional rights at the door.
Don't count on it. As long as the communist war on private ownership of firearms continues, the game of whack-a-mole is likely to continue.
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