This is my PERSONAL informal opinion, not expressed on behalf of any client.

The Silveira case is still the absolutely wrong case for SCOTUS review.

After consultation with the leading Second Amendment scholars across the country, there is near universal agreement on this. The basic argument of the few in support of taking Silveira to the SCOTUS is that Silveira's lawyers are stubbornly going to do it anyway, so we might as well support them. But we can support the issue ONLY IF AND WHEN they get cert granted by SCOTUS. Until then, it is still a reckless move which plays into the hands of those who would give us a 2A right with no teeth.

FYI, the Nordyke v. Alameda case (challenging Alameda's gun show ban), which also directly raises the 2A issue, is still under consideration for en banc review in the Ninth Circuit. CRPA and NRA will almost certainly submit briefs if en banc review is granted. We would still need to change a lot of minds, but the Silveira dissents may influence the other Ninth Circuit judges to accept Nordyke en banc.

Remember, the recent Nordyke three judge panel decision attacked Reinhardt's Silveira opinion and was cited in the Silveira en banc order dissents - which I must say were precipitated at least to some extent by the Nordyke panel opinion (wherein the judges said there WAS a 2A right but their hands were tied by the Hickman case).

And let's recall that NRA and CRPA submitted an amicus brief on the Second Amendment issue in support of the Nordyke's to the three judge Ninth Circuit panel (so much for the fringe's "NRA does not want the issue heard at all" theory).

There are now also TWO cases in DC court which are better suited than Silveira for SCOTUS review. They avoid the incorporation issue, and the DC handgun ban law being challenged is far more vulnerable than the AWCA.

To reiterate a somewhat oversimplified reason why Silveira is a BAD case - look at what Judge Pregerson said in the Silveira en banc order: He believes in the 2A - BUT THE AWCA STILL IS CONSTITUTIONAL. To further understand how a court could do this, look at the Bailey case on Connecticut's AW law - Connecticut had a RKBA provision in its state constitution. That didn't stop the Conn. Supreme Court from finding the law constitutional.

A similar thing happened in Oregon. That state RKBA constitutional provision now just protects muskets.

It all hinges on the test applied, and where the court draws the line of protection. "Strict scrutiny" is almost certainly NOT going to be the test applied to the Second Amendment. If an AW law is the first case to address the issue, we are probably going to wind up with a "reasonableness" test - something subject to political and subjective application.

Establishing the parameters of that line of protection will likely mean YEARS of continued fighting in court and Congress even after 2A is confirmed as an individual right. It will be the "full employment act" for 2A lawyers (and unfortunately, many others), and will require tremendous efforts by pro self defense groups. Those who argue that NRA, etc., doesn't want a 2A case in SCOTUS because they would lose their reason for being (which, by the way, has always been percentage wise more about shooting, safety programs, training, etc, than politics) are legally utterly clueless.

Silveira bites off more than the court (or the lawyers on the case) can chew. It will hurt us.

CRPA, and now additional "friends of the court" will almost certainly be filing an amicus brief in SCOTUS to ask them NOT to hear that Silveira case.

The road to Hell is paved with good intentions

C. D. Michel
TRUTANICH-MICHEL, LLP
Attorneys At Law
Port of Los Angeles Office
407 North Harbor Blvd.
San Pedro, California 90731