CRPA Files Amicus Brief in U.S. v. Allam

CRPA, joined by the Second Amendment Law Center and the Second Amendment Foundation, is filing an amicus brief in a case challenging the Gun Free School Zones Act. The case is United States v. Allam, a criminal appeal in the Fifth Circuit. We are urging the court to rule that declaring 1,000 feet around every school a “sensitive place”, as the federal law in question does, is unconstitutional.

Our brief argues that the district court made three critical errors in its analysis. First, even though schools and the threat of violence in schools has existed for centuries, the district court inappropriately applied Bruen’s “more nuanced approach” that allows for more general analogues. That approach is supposed to be reserved for unprecedented problems or new technologies. Second, the district court relied on outlier polling place “buffer zone” laws, which only two states (out of 38 at the time) adopted. Third, even if those buffer zone laws were not outliers, they only applied on election day, whereas the modern school zone prohibition applies all the time, even when school is not in session. The burden imposed is thus substantially greater.

The brief also discusses how the 1,000 foot rule can harm law-abiding Americans exercising their right to carry, and it rebuts the Second Circuit’s terrible sensitive places ruling in Antonyuk (which the Supreme Court recently vacated).

Law-abiding Americans exercising their right to carry should not have to review maps to see if they are within 1,000 feet of a school when simply going about their day. We hope the Fifth Circuit will rule accordingly.