The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has denied the District’s request for a rehearing of their unconstitutional concealed carry law, which the court previously struck down – and the decision could put the case on a path to the Supreme Court.
Court Rejects DC’s En Banc Request: ‘Good Reason’ for Concealed Carry Remains Unconstitutional https://t.co/b0Y0YFNHVW
— 2A America News (@2AAmericaNews) September 28, 2017
In July, a Circuit Court three-judge panel ruled 2-to-1 that D.C.’s “good cause” requirement to obtain a concealed carry permit violates the Second Amendment. In the 38-page opinion, Judge Thomas B. Griffith wrote: “The good-reason law is necessarily a total ban on most D.C. residents’ right to carry a gun in the face of ordinary self-defense needs. Bans on the ability of most citizens to exercise an enumerated right would have to flunk any judicial test.”
Remarkably, no judge on the Court asked to rehear the case afterward, and on Thursday they officially decided not to rehear it. Chris Cox, Executive Director of the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action, applauded the decision: “We applaud the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals for reaffirming the rights of ordinary, law-abiding citizens to carry firearms to protect themselves and their families in the District of Columbia. The District’s draconian restrictions on core Second-Amendment rights are out of step with the mainstream protections in the rest of the country, and as the D.C. Circuit’s opinion shows, they are equally out of step with our Nation’s traditions and fundamental law.”
This is certainly a victory for law-abiding gun owners living in D.C., but the District could decide to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court. Heightening the likelihood of the Supreme Court’s involvement is the fact that the D.C. Court’s decision has created a Circuit split: In June, the Ninth Circuit court ruled in favor of San Diego’s “good cause” clause.
The good new is, if the Supreme Court does take up the case it’s likely that they’ll rule in favor of the Second Amendment – especially with Justice Neil Gorsuch on the Court. And why shouldn’t they rule in favor of our right to keep and bear arms? The Second Amendment doesn’t stop outside the threshold of our homes.
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