We need $30,000! The 2nd Amendment is at stake!

Please read this carefully. We have never needed your help more than we need it now!

Dear Friend,

Last year, in a historic decision, the U.S. Supreme Court clearly proclaimed that the Second Amendment is an individual right.

Not a collective right. Not a right of the "militia." A right of each American citizen.

You might think that would have ended the debate, but it didn't. Even after this decision, local governments around the country pretended that the protection of individual Second Amendment rights applied only to the federal government, not to the states or cities.

This is one reason why cities like Cleveland and Chicago continue to infringe individual rights with draconian gun bans and unreasonable regulations aimed squarely at law-abiding citizens.

As is so often the case, the only way to fight against such unconstitutional behavior is to file a lawsuit and win.

That's why now, a little more than one year later, America's highest court has again taken up a Second Amendment case.

This time they seek to answer the question: Do states and cities have to honor the Second Amendment rights of citizens?

The answer is obvious to you and me. The right of free speech is honored everywhere. The right of religious freedom knows no state boundaries. Every city honors the right to be free of unreasonable search and seizure.

Every right affirmed by the Constitution is accepted in every municipality and in all 50 states without question. So why would the Second Amendment be any different?

Such a simple concept appears to be beyond the understanding of some in this country.

So we plan to participate in another Supreme Court case that we hope will answer this question once and for all and force every state and local government to acknowledge the Second Amendment as the clear and inalienable right that the Founding Fathers intended.

Our part in this case is the same as it was last year. To research, write, print, and submit an official amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court. This brief will lay out an argument to inform and persuade the justices.

We were successful last year. And we hope to be successful this year.

But the task is daunting. The timeline is short. The costs are high. And our Foundation simply doesn't have the money to proceed.

In short, we need to raise $30,000 within 7 weeks to pay for high-level legal research, trips to Washingon D.C. for Ken Hanson (our legal council), special and expensive printing of the brief, and more.

(UPDATE: We've raised $25,000 so far. We need $5,000 in the next 5 days to meet our goal!)

Can you help? We need it. And we need it immediately.

Mail your check to:
Buckeye Firearms Foundation
15 West Winter Street
Delaware, Ohio 43015

or donate securely online now.

All donations to the Foundation are tax deductible.

Details of the Case

The case is called McDonald v. City of Chicago. It will focus on "incorporation" of the Second Amendment. This means the court will be answering the question:

Does the Second Amendment restrict state and city action, or just action by the federal government?

Currently, the Second Amendment restricts only federal action.

This incorporation case is a follow-up to District of Columbia v. Heller. The Heller decision, issued on June 27, 2008, found that there is a fundamental, individual right to own firearms and a fundamental, individual right to self defense under the Second Amendment. However, the decision did not address the issue of incorporation.

This is the exact wording of the court's recent order:

Whether the Second Amendment is incorporated into the Due Process Clause or the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment so as to be applicable to the States, thereby invalidating ordinances prohibiting possession of handguns in the home.

The wording of the Court's order indicates that the Court is interested in revisiting the privileges and immunity clause of the 14th amendment. If the Second Amendment is incorporated into the Due Process Clause or the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the 14th Amendment so that it applies to the States, it would invalidate laws prohibiting possession of handguns in the home.

The argument could be presented like this: Given that the right to attend worship, the right to jury trial, the right to counsel, the right against self-incrimination, and all the other rights in the U.S. Constitution apply inside Chicago, why should the rights affirmed by the Second Amendment stop at the city limits?

Under normal scheduling, the timing of this order means the case will likely be set for argument in January 2010, and a decision will be released by June 2010.

The Supreme Court considered a number of different cases during the September 29, 2009 conference, including two other gun-rights cases. It is possible that the McDonald case will be the only gun rights case to be heard.

Buckeye Firearms Foundation will participate in the McDonald case by filing an amicus brief, and has secured the support of the United States Concealed Carry Association as a co-party.

We are also seeking funding from other pro-gun organizations and generous donors. However, we are far short of our total financial obligations.

The Foundation is a young organization and does not have the funds to complete its work without grassroots support from people like YOU.

As always, we work in the most cost-effective way possible. Everyone involved is a volunteer putting in hundreds of hours without compensation. But there are necessary and unavoidable out-of-pocket costs related to presenting this brief to the Supreme Court.

One of our biggest costs will be printing. The Supreme Court of the United States has very specific requirements for submitting briefs. They require special paper and binding that is not readily available, and therefore expensive. Buckeye Firearms Foundation has contracted for the printing of our brief with a printer who has Supreme Court experience. This printing is needed early in November.

I'm asking you to help us pay for this printing and for our other expenses as well, including research, delivery, and travel as we do the difficult and time-consuming work needed to see this case through to a winning decision.

We need you to dig deep on this one. Can you donate $100 or $75 or even $50? Give as generously as you are able. Any amount will help.

Make your check payable to Buckeye Firearms Foundation. All donations are tax deductible.

Then mail your check to:

Buckeye Firearms Foundation
15 West Winter Street
Delaware, Ohio 43015

This is the same address as Buckeye Firearms Association. But your check MUST be made out to the Foundation. By law, we must keep these funds separate.

You can also donate online NOW.

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

You know what the Founding Fathers meant when they penned those words. And now it's your chance, perhaps your only chance, to help the Supreme Court explain it to the rest of America. And to the world.

If you value your freedom ... if you cherish your rights ... if you want to shape a better future for yourself and for generations to come ... if you want to personally play a roll in this historic Second Amendment case ... then please help us.

Get your checkbook right now. Write a tax deductible donation for as much as you can afford. And send it to:

Buckeye Firearms Foundation
15 West Winter Street
Delaware, Ohio 43015

I know I can count on you. You helped us win last year. And I have faith that you will help us win this year.

We must win. Our future depends on it.

Sincerely,
Jim irvine

P.S. I'm proud of you. We're a state organization, but we're recognized nationwide, by the NRA and others, as a national influence. And that, my friend, is because of YOU.

We ask and ask of you. And you never, ever let us down.