Two For the Price of One: Two Big Pro-Gun Court Cases

Two For the Price of One: Two Big Pro-Gun Court Cases

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So it’s not a great week to be a “gun-grabber.” With federal courts coming down in favor of the Second Amendment, you can just imagine that the Bloombergs of the world are sitting at home seething. The surprising thing is that the two biggest issues in gun rights litigation this week came from a couple of fairly liberal federal courts: the United States Court of Appeals for the 9^th Circuit (think the likes of California), and a Washington, D.C. Federal District Court.
Let’s break down these court cases:

Tackling the 9^th Circuit case we see Teixeira v. County of Alameda. In this case a group of like-minded, gun supporting citizens, sought to open up a gun shop in Alameda County, California. All of these individuals qualified under the laws to open up the shop. However, left- leaning Alameda County listened to the fear-mongering residents and denied these would be gun shop owners – citing zoning ordinances, etc. The problem, according to the Plaintiffs (the gun shop guys), and apparently the 9^th Circuit, was that flat-out bans on gun shops violated the Second Amendment. It turns out that, since the Second Amendment is a “fundamental and enumerated right” that the right to keep and bear arms does not only apply to keeping and bearing arms, but it also applies to the ability to purchase and “acquire” arms (the court obviously did not bar restrictions on federal and state laws regarding the sale and purchase of firearms). Bottom line of the case: flat out bans on gun shops merely to ban guns and the commercial sale of guns would meet a heightened scrutiny standard or become unconstitutional and violate the Second Amendment.

The second pro-gun case comes out of Washington, D.C. where Federal District Court Judge Richard Leon put a stop to a D.C. law that states an applicant must provide “good cause” to receive a firearm carry permit. The Judge in this case apparently found the law too restrictive and put on hold the city’s requirement.

Will Alameda County appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States? Will D.C. kick Judge Leon’s ruling up to an appeal? Only time will tell. In the meantime, stay tuned…

Hans Dara is a North Carolina attorney. Whereas all efforts are taken to ensure that the information contained in these “blogs” is accurate, nothing contained herein, or elsewhere on this or any website, or forum where this material may be posted, shall constitute legal advice or act to establish an attorney-client relationship. Should you have any question regarding any specific fact, law, or situation, you should contact a competent attorney.