WASHINGTON, DC — A ruling announced this morning by the D.C. Circuit Court found that there is a broad right to carry loaded guns in public places and struck down the District’s concealed carry permitting regime. This ruling conflicts with previous rulings by several other Circuit courts, all of which have upheld strong concealed carry licensing regimes that are virtually identical to the District’s. The decision today was a divided 2-1 vote, with a dissent from a judge originally appointed to the federal bench by Ronald Reagan and elevated to the DC Circuit by George HW Bush. It is very likely that the District will ask for full court en banc review.
Americans for Responsible Solutions, the gun violence prevention organization founded by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, combat veteran and retired NASA astronaut Captain Mark Kelly, and its partner organization the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, issued the following reaction:
Robyn Thomas, Executive Director, Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence:
“By striking down Washington D.C.’s concealed-carry-licensing law, today’s decision from the D.C. Circuit undermines public safety and will prevent law enforcement from ensuring that those carrying hidden, loaded guns in the nation’s capital have good reason to do so. The decision is out-of-step not only with every other federal appeals court to consider the issue, but also with centuries of American tradition showing that reasonable gun regulations are fully consistent with the right to keep and bear arms. And it stands in contrast to last month’s Supreme Court ruling that left in place t...