A court decision in Puerto Rico has eliminated the firearms registry and licensing requirements to purchase and carry in the Commonwealth.
The Ladies of the Second Amendment (LSA) group brought the lawsuit in a Puerto Rican Commonwealth court, rather than a federal court. Puerto Rico is a US territory subject to US federal court jurisdiction. LSA is affiliated with SAF through the International Association for the Protection of Civilian Arms Rights (IAPCAR).
The class-action lawsuit involving more than 850 individual plaintiffs challenged various articles in Puerto Rico’s gun law, which the court declared unconstitutional. Because of the ruling, Puerto Ricans may now carry openly or concealed without a permit, and they do not need to obtain a permit before purchasing a firearm.
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 2-1 Tuesday that a lower court should have held a trial before upholding a federal law that bans US citizens living outside the country from buying guns when they come back to visit.
Stephen Dearth, plaintiff in the case, lives in Canada and claims the ban is unconstitutional because it prohibits citizens who don’t reside in any state from buying firearms.
Judge A. Raymond Randolph said there are too many unanswered questions about Dearth’s residency status to resolve the case without a trial. Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson dissented, saying she is ready to uphold the law.
This one may go to SCOTUS.
David Codrea, a pro-gun blogger, Len Savage, a federally-licensed gun dealer and the FFL Defense Research Center, a not-for-profit corporation that defends federal firearms license holders, sued the ATF this week, claiming the ATF failed to fulfill a Freedom of Information Act request filed in March.
The FOIA request asked for clarification on how the ATF classifies firearms receivers, specifically how complete the component must be to be considered a firearm. “Phrased otherwise, the point when a ‘receiver blank’ becomes a ‘receiver.’ We have heard reference to ‘80% complete’ as the standard, but whether this is correct, and if so, what features make it so complete, we cannot find,” the complaint read.
According to the complaint, the plaintiffs filed the request March 12 and the agency failed to provide the documentation within the mandatory 20-day period, which expired April 13. The ATF declined to comment, citing the lawsuit and the agency’s policy against commenting on litigation. Or on their rules, it seems.
A New Jersey state appellate court ruled last week that a southern New Jersey man cannot buy guns because his wife is a convicted felon who’s been accused of domestic violence. The man had said he would keep the guns locked up and out of his wife’s control.
The two-judge panel found that the guns’ presence in the man’s home would give his wife greater access to firearms, creating an unacceptable threat to public health, safety and welfare. They said the man’s Constitutional right to own weapons was “subject to reasonable limitations.” (There is no test of reasonableness in the Second Amendment, as exists in the Fourth Amendment. — JP)
The ruling upheld decisions made by a state Superior Court judge and the police chief in the Burlington County town where the man lives.
The Mississippi Attorney General’s Office website now has procedures and a complaint form against illegal gun ban signs.
Nicholas J. Rabenau, 36, of Illinois, accused of illegally instructing concealed carry firearm classes without proper certification, has been indicted on 12 felony counts of forgery — six of which placed him as the perpetrator and six alleging either he or someone he was legally responsible for committed the act — and three counts of theft in the case. He is nearing a plea bargain with the court.
David Codrea’s write-up on MS attorney Stephen D. Stamboulieh’s federal case in TX challenging the post-1986 machine gun ban.
