A victory for law abiding citizens. A Kentucky clerk gets jailed for refusing to issue gay marriage licenses while the D.C. Police Chief remains free and clear to refuse issuing concealed carry permits.
A federal appeals court has struck down as unconstitutional several of the District’s handgun registration laws, including requirements that gun owners reregister firearms every three years and a prohibition on registering more than one pistol per month.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District ruled 2-1 in the case Friday, upholding six challenged gun registration provisions but striking four others — a victory for Second Amendment advocates who describe the District’s gun laws as the most restrictive in the country.
In addressing the challenges brought by gun owner Dick Heller, the District had offered no “substantial evidence” that the requirements enhanced public safety, U.S. District Judge Douglas Ginsburg wrote for the majority panel.
In defense of its “one pistol per month” rule, the District had argued that by limiting the number of guns that could be registered, the city would crack down on illegal firearms trafficking by limiting the number of guns in circulation.
Judge Ginsburg said while there was evidence to suggest that limiting sales of firearms could reduce trafficking, the “suggestion that a gun trafficker would bring fewer guns into the District because he could not register more than one per month there lacks the support of experience and of common sense.”
An attorney for Mr. Heller said the ruling on the “one pistol per month” rule was perhaps the most important law struck down by the appeals court because it could pave the way for challenges in other states.
“I think it’s an important precedent,” said attorney Dan Peterson, noting similar laws in California, Maryland and New Jersey.
Other laws struck down by the panel include a requirement for registrants to bring their firearms with them to Metropolitan Police Department headquarters to be inspected and registered by police.
“Common sense suggests that bringing firearms to the MPD would more likely be a threat to public safety; as Heller maintains, there is a risk that the gun may be stolen en route or that the [would-be registrant] may be arrested or even shot by a police officer seeing a ‘man with a gun,’” wrote Judge Ginsburg, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan.
The ruling is a second personal victory for Mr. Heller, who filed the lawsuit that led to the landmark 2008 Supreme Court ruling overturning the District’s 32-year ban on virtually all handgun ownership. After the city adopted gun laws to comply with the Supreme Court ruling, Mr. Heller again sued the District challenging the registration requirements.
The court also invalidated a requirement that gun owners pass a knowledge test of D.C. gun laws. It left in tact a requirement that owners pass a safety training class.