HUGE Win for the 2A Today - Mass and RI guys, heads-up

[fishpoopoo]

1. Today a federal judge struck down Maryland's practice of "may issue" with respect to carry permits.

2. This has implications for the rest of the country - 2A protections apply outside of the home. You guys living in restrictive towns in MA and RI will soon join the rest of the Free America.

WOOT!

http://saf.org/viewpr-new.asp?id=395

MARYLAND RULING A ‘HUGE VICTORY’ FOR SECOND AMENDMENT, SAYS SAF

For Immediate Release: 3/5/2012

BELLEVUE, WA – A federal court ruling in Maryland, that the Second Amendment right to bear arms extends beyond the home and that citizens may not be required to offer a “good and substantial reason” for obtaining a concealed carry permit, is a huge victory, the Second Amendment Foundation said today.

Ruling in the case of Woollard v. Sheridan – a case brought by SAF in July 2010 on behalf of Maryland resident Raymond Woollard, who was denied his carry permit renewal – the U.S. District Court for Maryland ruled that “The Court finds that the right to bear arms is not limited to the home.”

U.S. District Court Judge Benson Everett Legg noted, “In addition to self-defense, the (Second Amendment) right was also understood to allow for militia membership and hunting. To secure these rights, the Second Amendment‘s protections must extend beyond the home: neither hunting nor militia training is a household activity, and ‘self-defense has to take place wherever [a] person happens to be’.”

“This is a monumentally important decision,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “The federal district court has carefully spelled out the obvious, that the Second Amendment does not stop at one’s doorstep, but protects us wherever we have a right to be. Once again, SAF’s attorney in this case, Alan Gura, has won an important legal victory. He was the attorney who argued the landmark Heller case, and he represented SAF in our Supreme Court victory in McDonald v. City of Chicago.

“Equally important in Judge Legg’s ruling,” he added, “is that concealed carry statutes that are so discretionary in nature as to be arbitrary do not pass constitutional muster.”

“A citizen may not be required to offer a ‘good and substantial reason’ why he should be permitted to exercise his rights,” Judge Legg wrote. “The right’s existence is all the reason he needs.”

“Judge Legg’s ruling takes a substantial step toward restoring the Second Amendment to its rightful place in the Bill of Rights, and provides gun owners with another significant victory,” Gottlieb concluded. “SAF will continue winning back firearms freedoms one lawsuit at a time.”

The Second Amendment Foundation (Second Amendment Foundation Online) is the nation's oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 650,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control. In addition to the landmark McDonald v. Chicago Supreme Court Case, SAF has previously funded successful firearms-related suits against the cities of Los Angeles; New Haven, CT; New Orleans; Chicago and San Francisco on behalf of American gun owners, a lawsuit against the cities suing gun makers and numerous amicus briefs holding the Second Amendment as an individual right.

[JohnnyD]

Now this is fantastic news. I have my license but the misses and I are looking to buy a house. Plainville is one of the towns we are looking in but the Chief is known to hardly ever give out permits and to refuse renewal of existing LTC-A permits.

I'll be curious if/how this changes things for people in places like Brookline.

[Sweetwater]

Originally Posted by JohnnyD

Now this is fantastic news. I have my license but the misses and I are looking to buy a house. Plainville is one of the towns we are looking in but the Chief is known to hardly ever give out permits and to refuse renewal of existing LTC-A permits.

I'll be curious if/how this changes things for people in places like Brookline.

For this to make a difference in Massachusetts, someone will need to challenge current legislation based on this court finding. This won't happen quickly. I looked on the G.O.A.L. website and didn't see any mention of it. However, this type of ruling in conjunction with the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act (already passed by the US House) are much needed in this country.

[zacs]

i thought that with obama in office nobody would be allowed to own guns by 2012???

[RIROCKHOUND]

Originally Posted by zacs

i thought that with obama in office nobody would be allowed to own guns by 2012???

That's his second term agenda.