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The District can continue to enforce its concealed-carry gun law, after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued a full stay of an ruling from a federal judge that declared the legislation “likely unconstitutional.” This follows an immediate administrative stay issued by the court in late May.
The Office of the Attorney General appealed U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon’s May 17 decision, over a law that requires people to have a “good reason” in order to get a permit from police to carry guns. Leon’s decision blocked the city from enforcing the law with a preliminary injunction.
Leon wrote that the law is “inconsistent with the individual right to bear arms under the Second Amendment,” and that the plaintiffs “will suffer irreparable harm absent preliminary injunctive relief, and that the equities and the public interest weigh in plaintiffs’ favor.”
In the 10 days following Leon’s decision, D.C. Police received 85 concealed carry permit applications, whereas it got 61 in the six previous months, according to the Washington Times.
“This stay is good news for public safety in our city, because it means we may continue enforcing our gun laws in full,” said AG Karl Racine in a statement. “The District’s gun laws are constitutional, reasonable, and in line with laws in other states that three other federal appellate courts have upheld.” He’s referring to New Jersey, New York and Maryland, where the judiciary has upheld similar “good reason” laws.
The plaintiffs in the case are undaunted. “We don’t like it, but it’s part of the process,” says Gwendolyn Patton, spokesperson for Pink Pistols, a gun advocacy group that brought the case along with D.C. resident Matthew Grace. “We’re going to be pursuing this.”
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals order also expedites the appeal process, so briefs will begin earlier. Oral arguments will begin the same day as Wrenn v. District of Columbia, another case about the “good reason” law where a U.S. District judge denied an injunction in March.
Leon isn’t the first federal judge to overturn District gun laws. The D.C. Council developed the “good reason” legislation as a response to another ruling that required the city to designate where licensed owners could carry handguns in public. The Supreme Court overturned the city’s ban on owning a handgun in 2008.
Rachel Kurzius