LF: Appeals court strikes down Washington, DC gun restriction (must have a "good reason")

Title: Appeals court strikes down Washington, DC gun restriction (must have a "good reason")
Source: RT
URL Source: https://www.rt.com/usa/397489-court-nixes-dc-gun-law/
Published: Jul 26, 2017
Author: RT
Post Date: 2017-07-26 13:44:21 by Hondo68
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Keywords: None
Views: 1489
Comments: 6

The three-judge panel at the DC Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 against the District of Columbia. Judges Thomas B. Griffith and Stephen F. Williams were in the majority, while Judge Karen L. Henderson dissented.

“We are bound to leave the District as much space to regulate as the Constitution allows – but no more,” wrote Judge Griffith in the decision issued Tuesday. “And the resulting decision rests on a rule so narrow that good-reason laws seem almost uniquely designed to defy it: that the law-abiding citizen’s right to bear common arms must enable the typical citizen to carry a gun.”

D.C. Circuit blocks D.C. from enforcing "good reason" gun law, which required applicant to show "good reason" to get concealed carry permit pic.twitter.com/lpXrde8fDg— Cogan Schneier (@CoganSchneier) July 25, 2017

The District, which is home to federal government institutions, banned all handguns in 1976. That ban was struck down by the US Supreme Court in 2008 (DC v. Heller). A ban on carrying handguns was struck down in 2014 (Palmer v. DC), which resulted in the current law, requiring individuals applying for a concealed-carry license to demonstrate “good reason to fear injury” to person or property or “any other proper reason for carrying a pistol.”

For Tuesday’s ruling, the court combined two separate but related appeals, in which the plaintiffs sought an injunction against the District enforcing the “good reason” law. The law was challenged by Brian Wrenn and the Second Amendment Foundation, Inc. as well as Matthew Grace and the Pink Pistols, a group arguing that sexual minorities should be allowed to carry firearms for self-defense. Lower courts had denied the injunction to Wrenn and granted it to Grace.

The District had argued that its gun control laws were necessary for public safety, that DC was a densely populated urban area, and that the presence of federal officials warranted special security concerns.

The District’s law merited invalidation “regardless of its precise benefits,” because the Second Amendment “erects some absolute barriers that no gun law may breach,” the majority decision held.

In her dissent, Judge Henderson sided with the District that licensing laws were intended for “the prevention of crime and the promotion of public safety,” adding that the “core” Second Amendment right applies to possession of self-defense weapons at home, but not outside.

D.C. Appeals Court Strikes Down 'Good Reason' CCW Law - SAF

BELLEVUE, Wash., July 25, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Second Amendment Foundation today won a significant court victory against "good reason" requirements for concealed carry when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued a permanent injunction against enforcement of such a requirement in Washington, D.C.

The 2-1 ruling, written by Judge Thomas Beall Griffith, a 2005 George W. Bush appointee, declared that, "At the Second Amendment's core lies the right of responsible citizens to carry firearms for personal self-defense beyond the home, subject to longstanding restrictions…The District's good-reason law is necessarily a total ban on exercises of that constitutional right for most D.C. residents. That's enough to sink this law under (the 2008 U.S. Supreme Court's Heller ruling)."

"Today's ruling contains some powerful language that affirms what we have argued for many years, that requiring a so-called 'good cause' to exercise a constitutionally-protect right does not pass the legal smell test," said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. "We're particularly pleased that the opinion makes it clear that the Second Amendment's core generally covers carrying in public for self-defense."

The 31-page majority opinion also said that the District's "good cause" requirement was essentially designed to prevent the exercise of the right to bear arms by most District residents. Thus, it amounts to a complete prohibition, and that does not pass muster under the 2008 Heller ruling that struck down the District's 30-year handgun ban.

"The good-reason law," Judge Griffith wrote, "is necessarily a total ban on most D.C. residents' right to carry a gun in the face of ordinary self-defense needs…"

"To read the majority opinion and not come away convinced that such 'good reason' or 'good cause' requirements are just clever ways to prevent honest citizens from exercising their rights is not possible," Gottlieb stated. "To say we are delighted with the ruling would be an understatement. We are simply more encouraged to keep fighting, winning firearms freedom one lawsuit at a time."

The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation's oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 650,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.

In the entire history of the world,the only nations that had to build walls to keep their own citizens from leaving were those with leftist governments.

If you ... don't use exclamation points --- you should't be typeing ! Commas - semicolons - question marks are for girlie boys !

I think the DC Circuit is one of the appeals courts where a 3-member panel can rule against you and you can still appeal to the full DC Circuit Court. Then you can still appeal to the Supremes after that.

The Suprimes may like this case because they can rule on the Federal jurisdiction of DC, while leaving some possible doubts as to whether it applies to the States or not.

D.C. Appeals Court Strikes Down 'Good Reason' CCW Law - SAF

The D&R terrorists hate us because we're free, to vote second party