PA Bill Number: HB1371
Title: Providing for duties of certifying officials and certifying agencies regarding the processing of certification form petitions.
Description: An Act providing for duties of certifying officials and certifying agencies regarding the processing of certification form petitions.
Last Action: Removed from table
Last Action Date: Jun 28, 2024
Gun rights advocates ask judge to halt new D.C. law :: 10/03/2014
The plaintiffs who successfully sued to overturn the District's long-standing ban on carrying firearms in public asked a federal judge Thursday to bar the city from enforcing its new law to regulate weapons, arguing that it is unconstitutional.
In a motion, the four people and the Second Amendment Foundation asked U.S. District Judge Frederick J. Scullin Jr. to enjoin the D.C. government from enforcing restrictions on carrying guns in public "unless and until such time as the District of Columbia adopts a licensing mechanism consistent with constitutional standards enabling people to exercise their Second Amendment right to bear arms."
When the D.C. Council passed the new law unanimously Sept. 23, Alan Gura, attorney for the plaintiffs, called the legislation "something of a joke." He added, "It's not much progress to move from a system where ¬licenses are not available to a system where licenses are only available if the city feels like issuing them."
According to D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D), who drafted the bill with mayoral and police officials, the new carry legislation is among the strictest in the nation, requiring applicants to state good reason to carry a weapon, matching laws in Maryland, New Jersey and New York.
Mendelson said he would "be surprised if a year from now it was more than a couple hundred" applicants who qualify.
