Fort Worth, TX—The Blaies & Hightower law firm today filed a brief defending the right to bear arms with the United States Supreme Court on behalf of gun owner associations from over two dozen states. The amicus brief supports Otis McDonald’s challenge that he should be allowed to own and keep a firearm in him home in a high-crime area of Chicago.
“The Supreme Court last year ruled that the Second Amendment is an individual right,” said James Hryekewicz, a partner at Blaies & Hightower who authored the amicus brief. “Yet the Seventh Circuit court believes this right may not apply to states. We believe it does. And on behalf of the numerous state associations, we filed this brief in the hope that we can settle this legal dispute once and for all.”
The case involves a community activist named Otis McDonald, whose work brings him into contact with drug dealers and gangs. He would like to obtain a handgun to protect himself, but city ordinances prohibit it. Although the Supreme Court ruled last summer in the District of Columbia v. Heller case that the Second Amendment is a right guaranteed to individuals, the Seventh Court of Appeals later upheld Chicago’s gun ban and suggested the Supreme Court would need to rule on whether the Second Amendment applies to the states.
The Supreme Court is currently in recess. Their decision whether to review the Seventh Circuit’s opinion is not expected before October.
