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NFOA-PAF looks at the 2014 election

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farmerbob:
http://gunowners.org/goanews1152014.htm

CitizenClark:

--- Quote from: AAllen on November 05, 2014, 05:13:33 PM ---In Arkansas
--- End quote ---

This was in Alabama, actually.


--- Quote ---Amendment 3 passed which had 2 basic parts first the second part; saying new federal laws are unenforceable, we have had that discussion several times and I think everyone knows this will carry no weight in the Federal Courts.  Then the major item being sold: declares the right to keep and bear arms is a fundamental right (they already had a right to keep and bear arms in their constitution), and that courts must apply Strict Scrutiny when deciding cases involving the right to keep and bear arms.  This one concerns me because it is sounding like there are people that are going to try to push for this here, again in Federal Courts the State Constitution telling them to apply a certain level of scrutiny to a case is most likely going to be worthless, and I don't see any court in Nebraska even considering that language to mean anything, would love Dick Clark (and some of our other lawyers) to weigh in on this issue.
--- End quote ---

The three different levels of judicial review applied by courts are reasonable basis, intermediate scrutiny, and strict scrutiny. The meanings of these terms are well known to every person who attended law school anywhere in the United States, as they are part of the curriculum in every constitutional law class.

"Reasonable basis" is the standard most deferential to lawmakers, meaning that it is the least likely to result in a law being struck down. "Strict scrutiny" is a much more difficult standard for the government to meet, as it requires any infringement on a fundamental right to (1) serve a compelling government interest, (2) be narrowly tailored to achieve it, and (3) employ the least restrictive means possible.

Inserting this into a state constitution doesn't make it impossible for state courts to uphold bad gun laws, but it does make it more difficult. Obviously a state constitutional amendment has zero impact on rulings by federal courts with relation to federal gun laws.

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