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Pro-gun advocates have asked a judge to stop D.C. from implementing a strict concealed carry law passed by the Council in response to a ruling that overturned the city’s handgun ban.
In a motion filed today, an attorney for the plaintiffs in the Palmer case argues that the law does not satisfy the court’s order to enact “remedial legislation that complies with constitutional standards.”
“They have merely dusted off their earlier statute restricting handgun carry licenses at the police chief’s pleasure, a licensing regime which explicitly rejects the notion that people have a right to carry handguns for self-defense,” attorney Alan Gura wrote in the motion. “This is not ‘progress [defendants] have made to comply with the Court’ decision.” It is resistance. Indeed, various D.C. City Councilmembers emphatically declared that the legislation does not moot this dispute, and urged the Attorney General to pursue the appeal he believes remains available.”
The city will appear before Judge Frederick Scullin on October 17th to argue for a reconsideration of the original ruling which found D.C.’s complete ban on carrying handguns in public to be unconstitutional. The Council passed an emergency law in September that gave Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier discretion over who can receive a concealed carry permit in D.C.
