Fairfax, Va. --- The National Rifle Association, the San Francisco Retired Police Officers Association, and a group of San Francisco residents filed a Second Amendment lawsuit in federal court last Friday seeking to invalidate the San Francisco ordinance that requires all residents to store their handguns in a locked container or disabled with a trigger lock.

“Time and again, we see city governments attempt to strip their citizens of basic self-defense rights, and NRA will work tirelessly until these unconstitutional ordinances are abolished nationwide,” said Chris W. Cox, NRA chief lobbyist. “Freedom will prevail, as it did last June in the historic Heller decision. The rights of law-abiding Americans in San Francisco should be restored and NRA will continue pursing legislative and legal remedies for these types of infringements.”

The ordinance is similar to the Washington, D.C. ordinance that was invalidated by the United States Supreme Court last year in the landmark Heller decision that confirmed the Second Amendment protects a individual right to keep and bear arms.

The San Francisco ordinance infringes on the right to keep and bear arms by forcing residents, no matter what their personal circumstances, to store their handguns in a way that makes it impossible to immediately access a functional handgun for self defense or to defend one's family.

“Law-abiding Americans should have the freedom to choose how to protect themselves, based on their personal situation,” concluded Cox. “No local, state or federal government should dictate this decision.”

-NRA-

Established in 1871, the National Rifle Association is America's oldest civil rights and sportsmen's group. Four million members strong, NRA continues its mission to uphold Second Amendment rights and to advocate enforcement of existing laws against violent offenders to reduce crime. The Association remains the nation's leader in firearm education and training for law-abiding gun owners, law enforcement and the military.