WASHINGTON – A federal judge has ruled that a key provision of the District’s new gun law is likely unconstitutional, ordering Washington, D.C., police to stop requiring individuals to show “good reason” to obtain a permit to carry a firearm on the streets of the nation’s capital.<\/p>\n
In imposing a preliminary injunction pending further litigation, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon reignited a running battle over the Second Amendment in the District and its courts where three different judges have now weighed in with varying conclusions.<\/p>\n
“The enshrinement of constitutional rights necessarily takes certain policy choices off the table,” Leon wrote in a 46-page opinion, quoting a 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2008 in another District case that established a constitutional right to keep firearms in one’s home.<\/p>\n
Leon said that the right applies both inside and outside the home.<\/p>\n
“The District’s understandable, but overzealous, desire to restrict the right to carry in public a firearm for self-defense to the smallest possible number of law-abiding, responsible citizens is exactly the type of policy choice the Justices had in mind,” he wrote.<\/p>\n
The law gives police discretion to grant licenses to applicants who show “good reason to fear injury” or “any other proper reason for carrying a pistol,” such as having a job transporting cash or other valuables.<\/p>\n
The city’s law, among the strictest in the nation, matches those in Maryland, New Jersey and New York that have been upheld by federal appeals courts elsewhere.<\/p>\n
Leon’s ruling came in a lawsuit filed last year by a District gun-owner, Matthew Grace, and gun-rights group Pink Pistols. The plaintiffs alleged that the D.C. gun law violates the core Second Amendment right to bear arms for self-defense, including protecting themselves from non-specific threats and threats that arise unexpectedly.<\/p>\n
David Thompson, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said Leon got it right in finding that the Constitution includes a right to carry firearms. “The District of Columbia cannot parcel out Constitutional rights to a select few of its choosing,” Thompson said. “That’s not how the Constitution works in this country.”<\/p>\n
The D.C. police department referred questions about Tuesday’s ruling to the office of Attorney General Karl A. Racine. Robert Marus, a spokesman for the attorney general, said the office is reviewing the ruling.<\/p>\n
He called the “good reason” restriction a “reasonable requirement to protect public safety in an urban environment like the District of Columbia.”<\/p>\n
The District approved its new concealed-carry permitting system in September 2014, after its long-standing ban on carrying firearms in public was overturned that July by U.S. District Judge Frederick J. Scullin Jr., a federal judge on assignment to the District from New York.<\/p>\n
The case was reassigned to U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly. She ruled in favor of the city in March, finding that gun-rights advocates had not shown that the licensing scheme is likely unconstitutional or that a preliminary injunction would be in the public interest.<\/p>\n
Kollar-Kotelly noted the city’s strong interest “in reducing risks posed to members of the public in the District of Columbia as a result of concealed weapons carried in public.” She also pointed to consistent rulings by three other federal appellate courts that have upheld “good reason” requirements.<\/p>\n
Plaintiffs in that case have appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.<\/p>\n
(c) 2016, The Washington Post \u00b7 Spencer S. Hsu, <\/span>Ann E. Marimow<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" WASHINGTON – A federal judge has ruled that a key provision of the District’s new gun law is likely unconstitutional, ordering Washington, D.C., police to stop requiring individuals to show “good reason” to obtain a permit to carry a firearm on the streets of the nation’s capital. In imposing a preliminary injunction pending further litigation, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5409,"featured_media":59777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n