D.C.'s Gun Carry Ban Challenged
Libertarian theorist, scholar, and activist Tom Palmer (one of the original plaintiffs in the Second Amendment-vindicating Heller case) discusses a new lawsuit he's a plaintiff in, challenging D.C.'s continuing ban on public carrying of weapons for the purpose of self-defense.
The full text of the legal complaint. It's a pretty direct Second Amendment argument, including that D.C. should not be allowed to forbid non-D.C. residents from carrying a weapon for self-defense in D.C.
Lawyer in the case is super Second Amendment defender Alan Gura, who won Heller and will this year be arguing McDonald v. Chicago before the Supreme Court. A Reason interview from July 2009 with Gura on his post-Heller Second Amendment cases.
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Surprised this didn't make morning links: court approves partial DNA matches to be used in investigations.
Maybe you should post it there.
Meh
challenging D.C.'s continuing ban on public carrying of weapons for the purpose of self-defense.
I do not know the answer to this: what is D C law regarding possession/transport of a firearm to the range, or simply from one place to another? Are guns banned in every place and situation?
i think it's a challenge to allow CCW holders from VA to enter DC without being forced to choose between comitting a crime or disarming themselves.
Under current regulations, you may carry a handgun, unloaded and in a locked case, with the appropriate documentation. According to the DC rules, "Registering your firearm does not grant you license to carry it outside your home or place of business, except to transport the weapon for a lawful recreational purpose."
mpdc.dc.gov/mpdc/lib/mpdc/info/pdf/registering_firearm_dc.pdf
Thanks.
Sounds to me like he is in for a very long fight!
Jess
http://www.online-privacy.int.tc
Lawful recreational purpose? The point is to defend yourself. I wonder how far you'd get with the argument that you were seeing the sights, a recreational purpose, and you carried your gun with you because you were going to a place with a high crime rate despite strict gun laws and you wanted to be able to defend yourself while recreating.
Works for me.
Guessing a couple of basketball players wish this happened before the season began.
It wouldn't have changed much for Arenas . . . it's the NBA, the press and the sponsors he has to worry about. If he'd had a legal permit to carry that gun, it wouldn't have made much difference in the story once he took it out and threatened someone with it.
He should do jail time, but he's famous, so who knows? Maybe that'll get him out of it with probation, or maybe he'll get double the sentence a janitor would have gotten.
"Resistance to sudden violence, for the preservation not only of my person, my limbs, and life, but of my preperty, is an indisputable right of nature which I have never surrendered to the public by the compact of society, and which perhaps I could not surrender if I would." - John Adams
Isn't it humorous how people are now calling Alan Gura a "super Second Amendment defender." In Heller, he assisted the anti's in further turning a right into a privilege.
"with the appropriate documentation". Do you also have to have the "approproiate documentation" to exercise your Right to free speach? Since when is it necessary to have documentation to exercise any of our Rights? How many criminals have these documents for their guns?
I respond to Theaton's uninformed remarks here: http://tomgpalmer.com/2010/01/...../#comments
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ree speach? Since when is it necessary to have documentation to exercise any of our Rights? How many criminals have these documents for their guns?