Shall Not Be Infringed
By Mitch Berg
A three judge panel of a Federal Circuit court – not just any federal circuit, but the Ninth – has ruled that the 2nd Amendment applies to law-abiding citizens carrying firearms for self-defense in public, and has reversed a Hawaii federal district court ruling clamping pre-Heller-style restrictions on citizens in Hawaii:
The ruling issued by a three-judge panel on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in San Francisco, came a year after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to rule either way on the carrying of guns in public.
Two of the three 9th Circuit judges voted to reverse a decision by the U.S. District Court in Hawaii that state officials did not infringe on the rights of George Young, the plaintiff, in twice denying him a permit to carry a gun outside.
“We do not take lightly the problem of gun violence,” Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain wrote in Tuesday’s ruling. “But, for better or for worse, the Second Amendment does protect a right to carry a firearm in public for self-defense.”
Kavanaugh can’t get on the bench soon enough.
July 25th, 2018 at 6:20 am
I, too, was shocked, yet pleasantly surprised, that this ruling came out of the Ninth. Considering how many times they have defined the Constitution and federal law, this is indeed a victory for freedom loving patriots.
July 25th, 2018 at 6:31 am
That’s my county.
Picture this: I am typing this with one hand while I am grabbing my roscoe with the other.
July 25th, 2018 at 7:16 am
I read the opinion. It’s wonderful, literate, thorough, and applies the correct method of Constitutional analysis and scrutiny, as if it had been written by Scalia himself.
Caution: this ruling applies to Open Carry only, not to Concealed Carry which the state still has the power to regulate, and is only a three-judge panel which could be reversed by appeal to the full Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
July 25th, 2018 at 7:30 am
Hawaii is so bad you are only allowed to take your weapon out of your home to go to a shooting range or licensed gun shop & back home. No side trips. If you hold a legal, registered weapon and you can’t convince the cop that pulled you over that you were going directly to or directly home from a shooting range, your weapon will be confiscated and you will be charged with a misdemenor.
July 25th, 2018 at 9:14 am
I anticipate a call for the full court to review, as all three judges on this panel were appointed by Republicans. Odd for that to occur on such a case, but it did.
July 25th, 2018 at 11:11 am
The article I read said that Judge O’Scannlain has already had a similar, previous opinion overturned by the whole Ninth Circus.