The Second Amendment Foundation is celebrating a victory in Pennsylvania involving a long-existing gun club in the Pittsburgh area, as a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has unanimously remanded the case back to the lower court for a second time.
The case is known as Drummond v. Robinson Township.
At issue is an effort by officials in Robinson Township to write and enforce restrictive zoning laws against the 265-acre Greater Pittsburgh Gun Club, now operated by plaintiff William Drummond.
SAF filed the legal action on his behalf. They are represented by veteran civil rights attorney Alan Gura, who argued both the Heller and the Second Amendment Foundation’s McDonald landmark U.S. Supreme Court case victories.
The Township has been at odds with the range since the early 1990s, and the range was even closed for about ten years until Drummond leased the property in 2017 with the intent to sell firearms and operate the shooting range. The Township amended its zoning rules and in 2018, Drummond and SAF filed suit.
While the District Court sided with the Township, the Appeals Court reversed and remanded. Drummond’s motion for a preliminary injunction did not receive a substantive ruling before the District Court dismissed his action, so he appealed a second time.
“Assuming (Drummond’s) motion is renewed on remand,” wrote Circuit Judge Cheryl Ann Krause, “we trust the District Court will address it promptly.”
She was joined by Judges Kent A. Jordan and Luis Felipe Restrepo.
SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb is delighted that the Appeals Court “has ruled in our favor both times.” He is confident of a favorable ruling in the case on remand.
“By the time our victory, in this case, is finalized,” Gottlieb said, “it will add Second Amendment protection to gun clubs, gun stores, and gun ranges because it provides for heightened levels of scrutiny for cases involving gun ranges.
“Anti-gunners have tried to push restrictive zoning on gun clubs, ranges, and gun stores in an effort to use zoning laws to make sure gun ranges and stores cannot operate,” he observed. “It amounts to Second Amendment violations and business discrimination under color of law. That cannot be allowed.
“SAF will continue pursuing this and similar cases,” Gottlieb said, “because our mission is to win firearms freedom, one lawsuit at a time.”
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