Leatherneck Blogger

While the D.C Court of Appeals may have denied the city another go at arguing the provision, it is still enforced by the D.C. police. Stephen Gutowski of the Washington Free Beacon has more:

Wrenn v. D.C. is the latest in a long series of challenges to the city’s strict gun laws. The case centers around the city’s gun-carry law, put in place after the previous ban on all gun-carry was declared unconstitutional, which allows city officials to deny a permit application based on whether they believe the applicant has a “good reason” for obtaining one. The plaintiffs complained that in practice this has resulted in very few gun-carry permits being issued in the city, with only 126 permits issued as of July 2017, and said the restriction is an unconstitutional infringement on their Second Amendment rights.

In a 2-1 ruling, the three-judge appeals court panel agreed with the plaintiffs.

“We are bound to leave the District as much space to regulate as the Constitution allows—but no more. Just so, our opinion does little more than trace the boundaries laid in 1791 and flagged in Heller I,” Judge Thomas Griffith wrote for the majority. “And the resulting decision rests on a rule so narrow that good-reason laws seem almost uniquely designed to defy it: that the law-abiding citizen’s right to bear common arms must enable the typical citizen to carry a gun.”

Washington, D.C., disagreed with the ruling and defended their gun-carry law by asking the full appeals court to hear the case.

“The District’s requirement that those requesting concealed-carry permits must have a ‘good reason’ for doing so is virtually identical to rules in other cities and states—requirements that four other federal appeals courts have left in place,” Racine said in an August statement. “We at the Office of Attorney General believe our common-sense gun rules are very much in line with Supreme Court precedent on the Second Amendment, which is why we have asked the full D.C. Circuit to reconsider the earlier 2-1 ruling by a panel of that court.”

On Thursday, the appeals court declined to hear the case again before the full court when no judge requested a vote on the potential hearing.

Washington, D.C., said it is deciding whether or not to appeal the case to the Supreme Court but has advised the Metropolitan Police Department to continue enforcing the “good reason” clause until the appeals court orders otherwise.

The silver lining here is that every state and every federal enclave now recognizes one’s right to carry a firearm. On principle, that’s great. The whole country knows citizens have some form of concealed carry rights. Now, we just have to fight a few more legal battles in more Democratic areas to make those rights concrete and tear down the obstacles that are preventing citizens from fully exercising their Second Amendment rights.