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March 9, 2007
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789-5200
Washington, D.C. Circuit Court Strikes Down 30-Year Old
D.C. Gun Ban
“We conclude that the Second Amendment protects an individual
right to keep and bear arms.”
WASHINGTON – In a ground-breaking opinion, the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit today overturned the D.C.
gun ban, a three-decade old prohibition on possession of firearms
within the Nation's Capital. Senior Judge Lawrence H. Silberman,
joined by Judge Thomas B. Griffith, a recent Bush appointee, concluded
that "the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and
bear arms." Judge Karen Lecraft Henderson filed a dissenting opinion.
The case,
Parker v. District of Columbia, was brought by six D.C.
residents – including Cato senior fellow Tom Palmer -- who sought to
keep functional firearms in their homes for self-defense. The
appellate court reversed a lower D.C. court on all counts, and held
that the activities protected by the Second Amendment "are not limited
to militia service, nor is an individual's enjoyment of the right
contingent upon his or her continued intermittent enrollment in the
militia."
Cato senior fellow Robert A. Levy acted as co-counsel to the
plaintiffs.
Under existing law, no handgun could be registered in the District,
and even pistols registered prior to D.C.'s 1976 ban could not be
carried from room to room within a home without a license. The sum
result of D.C.'s myriad firearm codes: no one within the city limits
may possess a functional firearm within his or her own home.
For the full opinion, see:
http://pacer.cadc.uscourts.gov/docs/common/opinions/200703/04-7041a.pdf.
The full text of the original complaint, Parker v. District of
Columbia, is available at
http://www.cato.org/pubs/legalbriefs/gunsuit.pdf.
See also:
"Let
the Courts Resolve the D.C. Gun Ban," by Robert Levy
"Challenging
the D.C. Gun Ban," by Robert Levy
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