Judge strikes down DC gun ban, open carry for self-defense is at ‘core of the Second Amendment’
In his 46-page ruling, Judge Richard J. Leon wrote that “law-abiding responsible citizens to carry arms in public for the purpose of self-defense does indeed lie at the core of the Second Amendment.”
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Therefore, the concealed-carry permitting system that DC imposed in 2014 likely violated the Constitution, Leon said, calling the measure “understandable, but overly zealous.”
“The need for self-defense is, of course, greater outside the home than it is within it,” the judge agreed.
Robert Marus, a spokesman for the District of Columbia’s attorney general’s office, predicted that Judge Leon’s ruling was “very likely” to be overturned on appeal, meaning that the District would be able to “go back to enforcing our law.”
The US capital’s gun law has long been the subject of a legal dispute.
Judge Leon’s ruling contradicts a decision from US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who ruled that public safety takes priority over individual rights because concealed weapons pose “a potential risk to others – carriers and non-carriers alike.”
President Obama bypassed Congress in January by signing an executive order expanding background checks for those buying guns and imposing other restrictions on firearms.
photo Joel Bombardier via Flickr
