Local, national and world news stories of interest.
 #110523  by claymore
 
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/09/29/co ... genda.html
Concealed carry' ruling could help put gun issue on Supreme Court agenda
In a win for gun rights activists, a federal appeals court on Thursday let stand another court’s ruling that it was unconstitutional for Washington, D.C.’s local government to require licensed gun owners to provide a “good reason” for legally carrying a concealed weapon in the nation’s capital city.

The ruling potentially sets the matter on a path to the U.S. Supreme Court, because other federal courts have reached varying decisions in similar cases, the Washington Times reported.
“Sometimes the most important thing a court does is not do anything,” Adam Winkler, a University of California, Los Angeles, law professor who has written extensively on the Second Amendment, told the Times. “Because of what the D.C. Circuit didn’t do today, the Supreme Court is now far more likely to take a concealed carry case.”

Second Amendment advocates said the law was too restrictive, and would make it more difficult for law-abiding citizens to obtain concealed carry permits. As of June, D.C. police had granted 126 such permits and denied 417 since the law took effect in 2014, the Washington Post reported.

Attorney Alan Gura, who represented some of the gun owners involved in the lawsuit, said Thursday’s ruling exposed flaws in the city’s law.

“The ruling is the latest blow to the District’s efforts to curtail gun possession and use,” he said, noting that the Supreme Court ruled against the city’s near-total ban on firearms in 2008, and a federal court blocked a bid to ban the carrying of firearms in 2014.


Local leaders in Washington sought for the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to rehear a case against the city’s gun laws, but judges voted 2-1 against revisiting a ruling issued earlier this year. The vote meant that the D.C. Circuit’s prior decision about the “good reason” requirement would remain in effect, the Times reported.

The city’s current law says that resident who want to legally carry a concealed firearm must first demonstrate that they have “good reason to fear injury,” the Post reported, adding that living or working “in a high crime area” was not necessarily a good enough reason.

D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine said in a statement that police can continue to enforce the "good reason" requirement until the appeals court issues what's called a mandate in about a week. Racine said he's reviewing options for how to proceed. The city could decide to ask the Supreme Court to hear the case.
 #110524  by pick_six
 
Saw this the other day, and ya gotta love seeing now the district just doesn't get it.

A bit surprised by all the rulings against the district along the way.

If a citizen ignored laws, or the constitution, they way the district has, he'd be imprisoned or shot.

Another reason .gov and their agents need to suffer criminal and financial penalties. After several of these findings against DC laws and policies, they should be charged with violation of rights under color of blue.
 #110530  by GatorDude
 
I am not confident that the issue will be accepted by SCOTUS just yet. They may want to wait for more Circuit Courts of Appeal to weigh in before sorting the mess out. Unfortunately, that is one of the criteria for cert to be granted by SCOTUS.

As for D.C., I'm sure they are not done trying to pass laws that facially violate the Second Amendment. Even if SCOTUS upholds the current decision, you can be assured that D.C. (along with many other states and cities) will enact laws that will try to drive a truck through the "reasonable restrictions" that might be upheld by SCOTUS (and lower courts).
 #110596  by pick_six
 
An update, dc is expected to be SHALL ISSUE in a matter of days.

But they're going down swinging. In this article, much like anti gun California, the GFZs are so wide ranging, it is fairly difficult to legally carry.

https://www.ammoland.com/2017/10/court- ... z4walYIueR

Iirc DC has mobile GFZs around diplomats and .gov vips.