Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Gun rights advocates say a federal judge's ruling striking down D.C.'s ban on carrying handguns in public should not be put on hold beyond the current 90-day delay.
U.S. District Judge Frederick J. Scullin Jr. last week gave plaintiffs until today to argue why he should not further extend the stay on his July 26 ruling, which found the city's gun law unconstitutional. Scullin already put the ruling on hold for about three months so officials could rewrite the law or seek an appeal, but the government wants additional time.
In a 17-page court filing, Alan Gura, lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said officials have not even decided yet whether to appeal the ruling, and discounted the city's claim that the District deserves special legal consideration because of its status as home to the center of the federal government.
"None of the District's allegedly unique features justify erasing the Second Amendment wholesale throughout the entire city," Gura wrote. "Government facilities, Presidents, ‘historically important sites,' and ‘thousands of visiting dignitaries and foreign officials' and various foreign consulates and missions may be found throughout the United States."
"Of course Defendants may prohibit the carrying of handguns in ‘government buildings' and other ‘sensitive places' . . . but that does not mean that they might prohibit carrying guns in a city containing government buildings," plaintiffs argued.