3 Men Suing Washington, DC Over Concealed Carry Permits
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The Supreme Court expanded gun rights in 2022.
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The capital has some of the strictest gun laws in the country.
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In 2008, DC was the reason for more of the most expansive 2A rulings in the country’s history.
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Three men are suing DC over its gun laws.
(NewsReady.com) – Last summer, the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) issued a ruling that expanded Second Amendment rights throughout the country. Its ruling turned over a century-old law that forced New Yorkers to prove “proper cause” before they were granted a concealed-carry permit. The decision in the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen reverberated throughout the country with gun laws being challenged.
Now, three men are suing Washington, DC, over its gun laws.
The Denials
Security guard Sanu Millard decided to get a concealed-carry permit when he turned 21 years old; after all, he was carrying weapons all the time while he was at work in Virginia, DC, and Maryland. He went to the police station in the nation’s capital and applied for a permit in 2019, but the department denied his request even though he had no criminal record.
Police in DC cited a domestic violence incident, but Millard was the victim in the case. The young man decided to file a lawsuit against the city for allegedly violating his Second Amendment rights.
Two other black men joined the lawsuit, and like Millard, the police had denied their permits. One of them was refused because he witnessed a shooting and took the victim to the hospital. He was also arrested and charged with other minor crimes later, but police eventually dropped the charges. The other party to the suit wasn’t able to get a concealed carry permit because he had previously been charged with assault with a deadly weapon. However, the man’s assault charge was dropped, and his case later dismissed.
The Lawsuit
According to The Washington Post, the lawsuit alleges the District of Columbia’s lawmakers “enacted an overly restrictive registration and licensing regime as a matter of policy.” It also hits the city for denying Millard a permit, arguing it’s dangerous to deny domestic violence victims means to protect themselves.
There’s also a possibility the law is disproportionately impacting black people. Washington, DC, police have a history of stopping black men. For instance, 70% of the people the city’s law enforcement officers stopped one month in 2019 were black, even though they only accounted for less than half of the population.
What do you think about the lawsuit?
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