Heller II: Heller Harder

Back on July 18, I followed 2nd Amendment case plaintiff Dick Heller to the D.C. courts and watched him begin the laborious process of registering an old revolver. The chatter in the crowd, and among reporters, was how onerous D.C.'s laws still were, even after the city's gun ban was overturned. Ten days later, Heller has a solution.

Dick Heller, et al., filed a complaint (For Declaratory Judgment, Injunctive Relief, and Writ of Mandamus) against the city today to force them to comply with the US Supreme Court ruling in the District of Columbia v. Heller and to protect our individual rights such as the right to defend ourselves in our own homes. The current regulations violate our rights in several ways such as the unconstitutional ban on semiautomatic firearms, the discretionary fee-imposition power of the police chief, the undue burden on the right to a lawful firearm in the home operable for the purpose of immediate self-defense, and in other ways.

On June 26, 2008, the United States Supreme Court held in District of Columbia v. Heller, 128 S. Ct. 2783, 2821-22 (2008), that "the District's ban on handgun possession in the home violates the Second Amendment, as does its prohibition against rendering any lawful firearm in the home operable for the purpose of immediate self-defense."

The District's ban on semiautomatic handguns amounts to a prohibition of an entire class of arms that is overwhelmingly chosen by American society for the lawful purpose of self-defense in the home. Semiautomatic pistols are issued to and commonly possessed by officers of the Metropolitan Police Department for self-defense and other lawful purposes.

More from the A.P. here.