Not that I approve of insulting one’s mother, but the result seems right. (I note the case chiefly because restraining order law is of interest to those who study the right to bear arms, since under federal law the targets of such orders are often barred from possessing guns.) The case is E.M.B. v. R.F.B. […]
Archive | Guns
The Puerto Rico Appellate Case Recognizing a Second Amendment Right to Carry Guns in Public
I blogged about this last week, but now I have a translation of both the majority and the dissent, translated by reader Rick Nemcik Cruz (many thanks to him for this). Since this is the first post-Heller appellate case, to my knowledge, that has held that a Second Amendment includes the right to carry guns […]
Second Circuit reverses Judge Weinstein’s order against firearms stores. Concurrence harshly rebukes him.
City of New York v. Mickalis Pawn Shop was recently decided by a unanimous 3-judge panel of 2d Circuit Judges Sack and Wesley, plus Judge Eaton (Court of International Trade) sitting by designation. The case began several years ago when New York City Michael Bloomberg brought a public nuisance lawsuit against several firearms stores located […]
District Court Upholds Discretionary Licensing of Concealed Carrying
The opinion comes in Richards v. County of Yolo (E.D. Cal.), decided yesterday; Josh Blackman has more. The result is unsurprising, given Heller‘s statement that concealed carry bans are valid, because of the longstanding tradition of courts upholding such bans (a tradition that goes back to the 1830s, and that was pretty solidly accepted by […]
Puerto Rico Intermediate Appellate Court Apparently Recognizes a Second Amendment Right to Carry Guns in Public Places
[UPDATE: Post bumped because I can now link to the full text of the opinion, with thanks to Victor Gonzalez-Garcia, FURTHER UPDATE: and the full text of the dissent, with thanks to Rick Nemcik Cruz, as well as to Mr. Cruz’s translation.] The case is Ex parte Roque Cesar Nido Lanausse [UPDATE: and here’s the […]
Prosecutor Reads Federal Ban on People Who Are Under Indictment Receiving Guns as Being Satisfied by Possession of Guns
In the post below, I discussed whether it was constitutional to ban gun possession by all people who are under indictment. But in the case in which the U.S. Attorney argued that this was constitutional, no such statute was actually in play. Federal law bars gun possession by felons, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), but only […]
The Second Amendment and People Who Have Been Indicted
May someone be barred from possessing a gun simply because he has been indicted for a felony? The U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of Alabama so argues. Here’s their entire argument (citations to Heller omitted): In Heller, the Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment provides an individual with a right to possess […]
Campus Carry passes Texas Senate
As an amendment to a broader bill on education. Details here, from the Austin American-Statesman. Campus carry already passed the House as a stand-alone bill, so it seems likely that the House will concur with the Senate amendment. Texas Governor Rick Perry has repeatedly indicated his support for the measure. The floor discussion of the amendment […]
Second Circuit Decision as to Default Judgment and Injunction Obtained by New York City Against Out-of-State Gun Sellers
The case is City of New York v. Mickalis Pawn Shop, LLC (2d Cir., decided today). The court’s summary: The defendants-appellants, Mickalis Pawn Shop, LLC, and Adventure Outdoors, Inc., are retail firearms dealers located in South Carolina and Georgia, respectively. The City of New York brought suit against them and other firearms dealers for public […]
Latest Decision in Nordyke v. King, the California Gun Show Case
The opinion is here. Some key excerpts: [W]e hold that only regulations which substantially burden the right to keep and to bear arms trigger heightened scrutiny under the Second Amendment. [Footnote: We need not decide today precisely what type of heightened scrutiny applies to laws that substantially burden Second Amendment rights.] … The Nordykes only […]
Peremptory Challenges of Hunters (Because They’re Hunters) Not Barred by Batson v. Kentucky
So holds a New York appellate court in In the Matter of Robar v. Farrell (decided today), which involved the prosecution of a defendant for recklessly injuring someone while hunting. The trial court held that such peremptory challenges were barred: “Under the [trial] court’s novel rationale, licensed hunters are a class entitled to constitutional civil […]
Cert. Petition in Right to Carry Case
By David Kopel on April 22, 2011 4:19 pm in Constitutional Law, Guns, McDonald v. City of Chicago, Standing, Supreme Court
Filed earlier this week by Stephen Halbrook, in the case of Williams v. Maryland. In short, Maryland bans all handgun transportation or carry without a permit, and has a permitting process which formally declares that it will deny permits to almost everyone. As the petition explains, “the Maryland State Police, the Maryland Handgun Permit Review Board, […]
Today in history: “Juden…waffen!”
From my article Armed Resistance to the Holocaust, 19 J. on Firearms & Public Policy 144 (2007). (For Polish translation click here). On January 18, 1943, the Germans rounded up seven thousand Jews and sent them to the extermination camp at Treblinka; they killed six hundred more Jews right in Warsaw. But on that day, […]
Rep. Harold Volkmer, R.I.P.
There have been thousands of men and women who have been elected to the United States Congress, but only a few of them can be remembered for leading the enactment of major reforms to safeguard constitutional rights. Among these giants are Rep. John Bingham and Sen. Jacob Howard, the lead sponsors of the 14th Amendment […]
Plaintiff Has Standing to Challenge Ban on Gun Buying by Americans Who Live Outside the U.S.
So holds Dearth v. Holder, decided today by the D.C. Circuit: Plaintiffs Stephen Dearth and the Second Amendment Foundation, Inc. (SAF), seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, claim that portions of 18 U.S.C. § 922 and related regulations are unconstitutional because they prevent Dearth from purchasing a firearm. The district court dismissed the suit for lack […]