Connecticut sued over "illegally bypassing" legislative procedures when passing new gun laws

A Newtown, Conn.-based gun industry group on Monday filed a lawsuit challenging Connecticut's tough new gun control law passed in the wake of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation Inc., which is based a few miles from Sandy Hook, claims the emergency legislation was illegally passed in April without proper public input, time for adequate review by members of the General Assembly, or a statement of facts explaining why lawmakers needed to bypass the usual legislative process.

The lawsuit argues that the law violates group members' rights to bear arms under the Second Amendment and a provision of the Connecticut Constitution that provides citizens with the right to defend themselves, The Hartford Courant reported.

"This is an action to vindicate the rights of the citizens of Connecticut whose federal and state constitutional rights have been adversely affected and significantly restricted by the passage of [the bill] through an abuse of the 'emergency certification' procedure, circumvention of the normal legislative process, and violation of Connecticut statutory law," the lawsuit states, according to The Courant.

"There was no emergency and so there's no statement of facts as to why this is an emergency," Lawrence G. Keane, the foundation's senior vice president and general counsel, told The Associated Press, arguing the public's federal and state constitutional due process rights were therefore violated. "There was truly no emergency other than a political one."

Keane said the foundation wants a U.S. District Court judge to strike down the law as invalid, prohibiting it from being enforced. Many parts of the legislation have already taken effect, such as an expanded ban on guns considered to be assault weapons and a ban on large-capacity ammunition magazines.
"The correct, legally required process was not followed," Keane said.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/07/09/gun-industry-group-sues-connecticut-over-gun-law/