The U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has declined to hold an en banc review of a case that overturned the “good reason” requirement of a carry permit in the District of Columbia. (Dave Workman)
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has handed the District city government another legal slap by declining a request for an en banc hearing on the court’s earlier ruling in Wrenn v. D.C. that struck down the city’s “good reason” requirement to obtain a concealed carry permit.
The strategic win was important for the Second Amendment Foundation, where founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb observed that, “the court has shown considerable wisdom, and this should help advance the effort to assure reasonable concealed carry for District residents. It represents one more advancement in our effort to win firearms freedom one lawsuit at a time.”
Attorney Alan Gura, representing the plaintiffs — SAF and Brian Wrenn — said in a prepared statement, “Ten years ago, Washington D.C.’s political leadership tried to extinguish Second Amendment rights before the Supreme Court. The result was D.C. v. Heller, a tremendous victory for the rights of all Americans. With the court of appeals again confirming the people’s right to bear arms, Washington, D.C.’s politicians must once again ask themselves whether it makes sense to keep resisting our fundamental rights.”
Now the question arises whether the city will take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. The city’s track record against Gura and SAF has been pretty dismal, starting with the loss in Heller in 2008 when the high court ruled that the Second Amendment affirms and protects an individual right to own a gun. Prior to that, the gun prohibition lobby had argued the right to keep and bear arms applied only to states for the purpose of forming militias.
A separate case filed by the National Rifle Association is also covered by Thursday’s decision. That case is known as Grace v. District of Columbia.
NRA’s Chris Cox, executive director of the Institute for Legislative Action, applauded the court’s decision.
“The District’s draconian restrictions on core Second-Amendment rights are out of step with the mainstream protections in the rest of the country, “ Cox said, “and as the D.C. Circuit’s opinion shows, they are equally out of step with our nation’s traditions and fundamental law.”
Gottlieb, currently in Dallas, Texas preparing for this weekend’s 32nd annual Gun Rights Policy Conference, was delighted with the court’s decision to not have an en banc hearing. Not a single judge on the court wanted the hearing, he noted.
In a bizarre turn of events, the anti-gun Everytown for Gun Safety had requested the chance to submit an amicus brief supporting the city’s gun law. The court decided to allow the brief, but then rejected the en banc request.
