In issuing the preliminary injunction, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon said the plaintiffs challenging the requirement were “highly likely” to succeed in showing that it violates the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.
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“We continue to believe our “good reason” requirement for a concealed-carry permit is both constitutional and in line with similar laws in New Jersey, New York and Maryland – all of which have been upheld by federal appeals courts”, said Attorney General Karl Racine.
A federal judge on Tuesday overturned a key provision of the District’s restrictive concealed-carry law, marking yet another milestone in a see-saw legal battle over gun rights in the nation’s capital that has stretched over the last two years.
In his 46-page ruling, Judge Leon wrote that the clause likely violates the Second Amendment of the USA constitution, because “the right to bear arms includes the right to carry firearms for self-defense both in and outside the home”. Yesterday, I discussed the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling that asserted the selling of firearms is protected under the Second Amendment.
Judge Leon’s ruling contradicts a decision from US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who ruled that public safety takes priority over individual rights because concealed weapons pose “a potential risk to others – carriers and non-carriers alike”.
Leon added that the law is “inconsistent with the individual right to bear arms under the Second Amendment”, according to DCist.
In defense of its law, which replaced a complete ban on gun carrying that was overturned on Second Amendment grounds in 2014, the District argued that a almost complete ban does not impinge on constitutional rights.
The plaintiffs in the case cite the D.C.’s “good reason” requirement for a law abiding resident of the District to be able to acquire a firearm as amounting to another gun ban.
They have to demonstrate they have a “good reason to fear injury to his or her person or property” or “any other proper reason for carrying a pistol”.
Leon did not buy that either: “Defendants point to no textual or historical evidence as support for their through-the-looking-glass view that a citizen’s right to carry a firearm for self-defense falls outside the “core” of the Second Amendment because the citizen lives in a densely populated and unsafe city where the need for self-protection is elevated”.
“We’re reviewing the ruling and considering an appeal as well as a motion to stay the injunction”, says OAG spokesperson Robert Marus. “That’s not how the Constitution works in this country”.
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The District approved its new concealed-carry permitting system in September 2014, after its longstanding ban on carrying firearms in public was overturned that July by US District Judge Frederick Scullin, a federal judge on assignment to the District from NY. In a statement, Racine said the District plans to ask to have Leon’s decision put on hold while the city appeals. After the decision, D.C. passed additional laws increasing registration requirements for weapons.
