D.C. Circuit lets stand concealed-carry ruling, cheering gun-rights activists

WaTimes: In a win for gun rights advocates, a federal appeals court on Thursday decided to let stand a ruling that found it is unconstitutional to require firearms owners prove a “good reason” in order to be permitted to carry a concealed handgun in the nation’s capital.

The D.C. government had petitioned for the full D.C. Circuit to rehear the case en banc, but the court declined to revisit the 2-1 decision handed down earlier this year, noting that none of the 10 judges who considered the matter requested a vote on it.

The decision leaves in place the D.C. Circuit’s prior ruling, which found that the city’s “good reason” requirement was unconstitutional. It also sets up the potential for the Supreme Court to take up the case, as the decision creates a split with other federal circuits that have found discretionary permitting schemes elsewhere are legal.

“Sometimes the most important thing a court does is not do anything,” said Adam Winkler, a University of California at Los Angeles law professor who has written extensively on the Second Amendment. “Because of what the D.C. Circuit didn’t do today, the Supreme Court is now far more likely to take a concealed carry case.”  more