BATF Firearm Civil Forfeiture Procedures and Policies: An Attorney’s Guide

admin Administrative Law, Firearms Law, Publications

On behalf of Gun Owners Foundation, our firm authored “BATF Firearm Civil Forfeiture Procedures and Policies: An Attorney’s Guide” on July 4, 2007. The guide is intended to provide a procedural overview for attorneys unfamiliar with civil forfeiture law as it applies to firearms, including what to expect from the BATF, and how to go about recovering seized assets.
This manual has Read More

Olofson Case — Oral Argument

admin Constitutional Law, Firearms Law, U. S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit

On January 22, 2009, Herb Titus presented oral argument before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in support of David Olofson’s appeal from having been wrongfully convicted of transfering a machinegun.  At the heart of the Olofson appeal, Titus contended, is that the Government pressed a wrongful definition of a machinegun in order to secure Olofson’s conviction.  According Read More

Akins v. United States, 11th Circuit Another Brief Contesting ATF’s Definition of a “Machinegun”

admin Constitutional Law, Firearms Law, U. S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit

On November 26, 2008, the firm filed an amicus brief on behalf of Gun Owners Foundation (GOF) and Gun Owners of America (GOA) in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in support of Bill Akins.  Akins is the inventor of the Akins Accelerator — a patented replacement stock of a semiautomatic firearm that through controlled “bump firing” increases the rate of fire, after Read More

Gun Owners Foundation Amicus Brief Filed in United States v. Hayes U.S. Supreme Court

admin Constitutional Law, Firearms Law, U. S. Supreme Court

On September 26, 2008, we filed on behalf of Gun Owners Foundation an amicus brief in United States v. Hayes.  The GOF brief urged the Supreme Court to affirm a Fourth Circuit court of appeals ruling that, as a matter of statutory interpretation, an individual does not lose the right to own a gun unless the prosecutor in the misdemeanor case  proves beyond a reasonable doubt Read More

U.S. v. Ramos/Compean Amicus Brief in Support of Petition for Rehearing U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

admin Constitutional Law, Firearms Law, U. S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit

We filed an amicus curiae brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in support of two former Border Patrol agents’ Petitions for Rehearing. This brief emphasized areas where the Fifth Circuit panel’s decision was inconsistent with the law as set forth in our earlier brief filed with the court on May 25, 2007.

Our amicus brief was filed on behalf of Congressmen Walter B. Jones (R-NC), Read More

Gun Owners of America/Gun Owners Foundation Comments to the U.S. Postal Service Regarding “Proposed New Standards Prohibit the Mailing of Replica or Inert Munitions”

admin Administrative Law, Firearms Law, Postal Law

Today, on behalf of Gun Owners of American and Gun Owners Foundation, we filed comments opposing the United States Postal Service’s “Proposed New Standards Prohibit the Mailing of Replica or Inert Munitions.”  (See 73 Fed. Reg. 12321.)  The new rule proposes to declare nonmailable “[r]eplica or inert munitions.”

The comments demonstrate that the proposed standard is Read More

District of Columbia, et. al., v. Dick Anthony Heller Amicus Brief for Gun Owners of America, Inc., et. al.

admin Constitutional Law, Firearms Law, U. S. Supreme Court

Today, our firm filed an amicus curiae brief in the Supreme Court supporting the respondent in the D.C. gun ban case, District of Columbia, et. al., v. Dick Anthony Heller, No. 07-290. The brief was filed on behalf of Gun Owners of America, Inc., Gun Owners Foundation, Maryland Shall Issue, Inc., Virginia Citizens Defense League, Gun Owners of California, Inc., Lincoln Institute for Read More

Ramos/Compean Amicus Brief Highlighted by Lou Dobbs

admin Press Coverage

The amicus curiae brief which we filed for Congressman Walter Jones, Congressman Virgil Goode, Congressman Ted Poe, Gun Owners Foundation, and U.S. Border Control Foundation was featured in a report on the Ramos and Compean case on the Lou Dobbs Show on CNN today. View this segment below.

 

AP Article Discusses Firm’s 10th Circuit (Wyoming) Amicus Brief Filed for GOF

admin Press Coverage

An Associated Press article discussed the case now pending in the 10th Circuit in which we filed an amicus brief for Gun Owners’ Foundation on behalf of the State of Wyoming.  Herb Titus of our firm was interviewed for the article, and quoted as saying “the Wyoming case is significant because the issue of whether restoration of gun rights is defined by federal regulations or state law Read More

State of Wyoming v. BATF Amicus Brief for Gun Owners Foundation in the Tenth Circuit

admin Constitutional Law, Firearms Law, U. S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit

Today we filed a Brief Amicus Curiae for Gun Owners Foundation in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in support of the State of Wyoming and Wyoming Attorney General Patrick J. Crank.  The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (“BATF”) argued that Wyoming  Stat. Ann. § 7-13-1502(k), which provides for the expungement with regards to restoring firearms rights to a person convicted Read More

Congressman Walter Jones (R-NC) Statement before the Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing to Examine the Prosecution of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean

admin Constitutional Law, Firearms Law

Congressman Walter Jones submitted a statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee, urging the Committee to use its power and influence to persuade the President to pardon Ramos and Compean, two border patrol agents wrongfully convicted of a crime that does not exist.  In support of his plea, Mr. Jones cited the amicus brief filed by this firm on his behalf and others in support of the agents’ Read More

BATF Firearm Civil Forfeiture Procedures and Policies: An Attorney’s Guide

admin Administrative Law, Firearms Law, Publications

On behalf of Gun Owners Foundation, our firm authored “BATF Firearm Civil Forfeiture Procedures and Policies: An Attorney’s Guide.” The guide is intended to provide a procedural overview for attorneys unfamiliar with civil forfeiture law as it applies to firearms, including what to expect from the BATF, and how to go about recovering seized assets.
This manual has been revised as Read More

Congressman Walter B. Jones Statement on the Floor U.S. House of Representatives

admin Constitutional Law, Firearms Law

On June 18, 2007, Congressman Walter Jones addressed the U.S. House of Representatives about the Ramos and Compean case.  He explained the issues raised in the amicus brief we recently filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.  Congressman Jones explained  how the agents were convicted of a crime which Congress never enacted into law.  The Congressman has asked the House Judiciary Read More

U.S. v. Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean Amicus Brief for Congressman Walter Jones, et al. 18 U.S.C. section 924(c)

admin Constitutional Law, Firearms Law, U. S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit

Today we filed a Brief Amicus Curiae in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit supporting the appeal of Border Patrol Agents Ramos and Compean.  Counts four and five of the indictment charge the two with “Discharge of a Firearm in Relation to a Crime of Violence,” under 18 U.S.C. section 924(c), which the Supreme Court has ruled is only a sentencing factor, not one of the three elements Read More

Strict Construction of Federal Criminal Laws U.S. Supreme Court Amicus Brief Watson v. United States

admin Constitutional Law, Firearms Law, U. S. Supreme Court

On behalf of Gun Owners Foundation and the Conservative Legal Defense and Education Fund, we filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Watson v. United States.  This brief asks the Court to overturn the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and to re-establish the common law rule of strict construction of criminal statutes.  In this case, Read More