Can government deny Americans one of our most important rights, specifically protected by the Constitution’s Bill of Rights, unless we can prove that we really, really need and deserve it? Thankfully, a federal appeals court has ruled in favor of our rights and against government overreach.
The 2-1 decision Monday came from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The court issued a permanent injunction stopping the local Washington, D.C., government from denying people the right to carry concealed handguns in the nation’s capital unless they could convince local officials they had a special and compelling need to protect themselves.
Though this ruling only affects Washington, D.C., it might have national consequences.
Just last month, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case (Peruta v. California) that addressed this very question, arising out of a local policy in San Diego, Calif. California, Maryland, New Jersey and New York have concealed-carry rules similar to those struck down by the appeals court in Washington.
The Supreme Court can only hear a case if four justices agree to review it. Only Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas said the high court should hear the Peruta case. When the court denied a hearing, Justices Gorsuch and Thomas wrote an eight-page dissent so filled with passion that it doesn’t seem a leap to imagine the late Justice Antonin Scalia whispering as a muse in their ears.
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by Frank Miniter
