Share
Commentary

Victory: 2nd Amendment Nails Huge Win in 9th Circuit

Share

Score another victory for the Second Amendment – in the most unlikely appeals court in the country.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a court that has a well-deserved reputation for being the most liberal in the land, ruled on Tuesday that the Constitution does, in fact, guarantee the right to openly carry a gun for self-defense.

Though the case involved a gun owner in Hawaii, it was a win for gun rights activists everywhere – and it was the second victory in the 9th Circuit in the span of a week.

In Tuesday’s ruling, according to Reuters, two of the panel’s judges ruled in favor of a man named George Young, who filed a lawsuit after being denied a permit to carry a gun outside his home in the state of Hawaii.

“We do not take lightly the problem of gun violence,” Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain wrote, according to Reuters. “But, for better or for worse, the Second Amendment does protect a right to carry a firearm in public for self-defense.”

Trending:
KJP Panics, Hangs Up in Middle of Interview When Reporter Shows He Isn't a Democratic Party Propagandist

That might sound like a grudging affirmation of a constitutional right – one that’s on a par with freedom of speech and the freedom of worship – but the point is, it’s an affirmation nonetheless.

And while the ruling could be overturned on appeal to the entire 9th District, an attorney who represented Young thinks the case could go all the way to the top.

“I think the Supreme Court is receptive to this,” the attorney, Alan Beck, told Reuters.

Conservatives aren’t used to hearing good news out of the 9th Circuit, a notoriously liberal body based in San Francisco with jurisdiction over nine western states.

Are gun rights getting more secure under President Trump?

But on July 17, another three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit ruled in favor of a Southern California man who sued in federal court over a 2016 referendum that would have banned “high capacity” magazines in the Golden State.

In that case, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s attempt to lift a stay on the law issued by a district judge.

The appeals panel didn’t rule on the merits of that case, which was filed by California gun owner Virginia Duncan and the California Rifle & Pistol Association, but it did rule that the district judge acted within his authority in granting the stay.

Tuesday’s ruling in the Hawaii case, and its source in the 9th Circuit, was causing ripples across social media.

Related:
Trump Takes Off the Gloves: Says RFK Jr. Will Be Indicted, Slams Him for 'Liberal' VP Pick

Neither last week’s victory nor Tuesday’s win was final, of course.

The full 9th Circuit could review both decisions and turn everything the other way.

But with Donald Trump’s choice of Neil Gorsuch firmly seated on the Supreme Court, and his second nominee Brett Kavanaugh, possibly heading to the high court soon, it’s a good chance that justices who interpret the Constitution as it was written will be in a solid majority if either of these cases goes higher than the 9th Circuit.

The same goes for any other gun rights cases that might bubble up.

And any victory for the Second Amendment is a victory for the Constitution as a whole.

Truth and Accuracy

Submit a Correction →



We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

Tags:
, ,
Share
Joe has spent more than 30 years as a reporter, copy editor and metro desk editor in newsrooms in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Florida. He's been with Liftable Media since 2015.
Joe has spent more than 30 years as a reporter, copy editor and metro editor in newsrooms in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Florida. He's been with Liftable Media since 2015. Largely a product of Catholic schools, who discovered Ayn Rand in college, Joe is a lifelong newspaperman who learned enough about the trade to be skeptical of every word ever written. He was also lucky enough to have a job that didn't need a printing press to do it.
Birthplace
Philadelphia
Nationality
American




Conversation