Second Amendment supporters and the Second Amendment Foundation won a hard-fought ruling in Washington, DC. Over the weekend a federal Judge threw out DC’s ban on carrying a weapon. The Judge ruled that the constitutional right, inherent in the 2nd Amendment, to self-defense is not limited to ones residence.
People who live in Washington, D.C. can now carry guns in public. A federal judge this weekend that the district’s initial ban is unconstitutional violating the Second Amendment.
According to court documents, the 2008 law mandated that handgun owners specify where they planned to use their guns and denied permits to anyone planning to carry handguns outside of their homes.
The judge ordered a reversal on the law immediately, but police officers have not yet been told to stop enforcing it. — FOXNews.
Federal judge rules DC ban on gun carry rights unconstitutional
A federal judge in the District of Columbia on Saturday overturned the city’s total ban on residents being allowed to carry firearms outside their home in a landmark decision for gun-rights activists.
Judge Frederick Scullin Jr. wrote in his ruling in Palmer v. District of Columbia that the right to bear arms extends outside the home, therefore gun-control laws in the nation’s capital are “unconstitutional.”
“We won,” Alan Gura, the lead attorney for the Second Amendment Foundation, told Fox News in a phone interview. “I’m very pleased with the decision that the city can’t forbid the exercise of a fundamental constitutional right.”
Gura said he expects the District to appeal this decision but added, “We’ll be happy to keep the fight going.”
The decision leaves no gray area in gun-carrying rights.
Judge Scullin extensively referenced the Supreme Court decisions in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) and McDonald v. Chicago (2010) to concluding “there is no longer any basis on which this court can conclude that the District of Columbia’s total ban on the public carrying of ready-to-use handguns outside the home is constitutional under any level of scrutiny.”
The court ordered the city to now allow residents from the District and other states to carry weapon within its boundaries.
Judge Scullin wrote that the court “enjoins Defendants from enforcing the home limitations of [D.C. firearms laws] unless and until such time as the District of Columbia adopts a licensing mechanism consistent with constitutional standards enabling people to exercise their Second Amendment right to bear arms.”
The District was expected to appeal the decision and did so today. But the city of Washington, is refusing to submit to the judicial order saying, they will appeal instead of obeying the judicial order. That seems to be SOP for Washington, either the city or the administration, delay, procrastinate all the while ignoring the law.
D.C. police won’t enforce handgun ban; stay of ruling overturning law will be sought
D.C. police were told Sunday not to arrest people for carrying handguns on the street in the wake of a judge’s ruling that overturned the city’s principal gun-control law.
However, the D.C. attorney general’s office said it would seek a stay of the ruling while the city decides whether to appeal.
In an order approved by Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier, police were told that District residents are permitted to carry pistols if the weapons are registered. Those who had not registered their handguns could be charged on that ground, the instruction said.
The number of registered pistols is thought to be low.
The city’s attorney, who argued the case in court, believes Judge Scullin’s order will be reversed and is appealing it.
The Judge Scullin’s order, he makes this statement, “constitutional under any level of scrutiny.” That is an important phrase. Next Tuesday, Missourians will have the opportunity to approve a change to Missouri’s Constitution adding the phrase, “strict scrutiny” when interpreting Missourian’s rights to keep and bear arms. It is a legal term, but the strict scrutiny is one reason why Judge Scullin ruled as he did.
Vote Yes! for Amendment 5 next Tuesday.