Explore The NRA Universe Of Websites

APPEARS IN News

Victory in D.C.! Shall-Issue Concealed Carry Coming to the Nation’s Capital

Monday, November 20, 2017

Victory in D.C.! Shall-Issue Concealed Carry Coming to the Nation’s Capital

In a stunning development, District of Columbia officials decided in October that they would not appeal a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit concerning the District’s discretionary concealed carry licensing regime.

This means the District of Columbia – which just over nine years ago banned handgun possession itself – is now a “shall-issue” jurisdiction for concealed carry permits.

The story of how D.C. went from banning handguns to joining the 42 right-to-carry states is one of sustained effort and painstaking advocacy. Your NRA has been there at each critical skirmish in this ongoing battle.

First came the historic decision in District of Columbia v. Heller in 2008. There, the U.S. Supreme Court held that D.C.’s ban on handgun possession and functional firearms within the home violated the Second Amendment. It also conclusively rejected spurious arguments that the Second Amendment protects only a “collective” right of states to maintain militias or an individual right, but only in the context of serving in such a militia.

The District’s reaction to Heller was defiance and denial. It enacted a prohibitively expensive and highly bureaucratic firearm registration system, effectively banned gun shops within D.C., banned many popular firearms, rationed gun sales, and repealed the long-dormant authority of the police chief to issue licenses to carry.

This provoked additional litigation, which for years worked its way through the federal court system, with mixed results for gun owners. Yet even gun-shy federal judges found occasions to rebuke District officials for overreaching into the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding residents.

One case in point was 2014’s Palmer v. District of Columbia, in which the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia held that D.C. officials could not ban carrying firearms outside the home for self-defense.

In response to Palmer, D.C. established a licensing regime that effectively granted the chief of the Metropolitan Police Department discretion over who received a license, a power the chief exercised to summarily dismiss nearly all applications.

Needless to say, this provoked additional litigation. The specific legal issue at stake centered on whether District officials could require applicants to show a “good” or “proper” reason for needing to carry a concealed handgun that distinguished them from the general population. This meant that most otherwise qualified applicants could not obtain a permit, which is the only way to lawfully carry a loaded, accessible firearm in D.C. for self-defense.  

The specific legal issue at stake centered on whether District officials could require applicants to show a “good” or “proper” reason for needing to carry a concealed handgun that distinguished them from the general population. 

That question was eventually answered by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in the combined cases of Wrenn v. District of Columbia and Grace v. District of Columbia.

In a split decision, two judges reasoned that the question was not whether a few select people could exercise their right to bear arms. The question was whether D.C.’s system made that right available to responsible, law-abiding people under ordinary circumstances. Because the majority found that D.C.’s “good” or “proper” reason requirement was effectively a ban on bearing arms by people entitled to Second Amendment protection, it declared the requirement invalid and barred its enforcement.

City officials then asked the full Circuit Court to rehear the case. That request was denied, leaving D.C. with two basic choices: accept the panel’s ruling or appeal it to the U.S. Supreme Court.

To the surprise of many, D.C. officials eventually decided they would not seek review by the U.S. Supreme Court. This meant the Circuit Court’s opinion became controlling law on the issue.

We may never know exactly why District officials chose not to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, but they obviously questioned their ability to prevail before the high court. While their arguments had always been weak, they also had a new justice to contend with in Donald Trump nominee Neil M. Gorsuch. I’ve said it before: the importance of judicial nominations cannot be overstated.

If history is any guide, however, D.C. officials will continue to push the envelope on restricting Second Amendment rights. Your NRA will be monitoring the situation closely and will respond appropriately to any further infringements.

Yet law-abiding Americans are now closer in D.C. than they have been in nearly half a century to being able to exercise their right to bear arms outside the home.  That is real progress. If it can happen in Washington, D.C., it can happen in other anti-gun jurisdictions as well.

You can be assured that your NRA won’t rest until it does.

TRENDING NOW
Undercover Video: Sen. Fetterman (D-Pa.) staffer claims boss would be “okay with like overturning the Second Amendment”

News  

Tuesday, May 30, 2023

Undercover Video: Sen. Fetterman (D-Pa.) staffer claims boss would be “okay with like overturning the Second Amendment”

It seems as though Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) may like to overturn more than just the U.S. Senate’s standards of professional attire. According to an undercover video of Fetterman senate staffer Luke Borwegen, obtained by O’Keefe Media Group, ...

Need a Good Lawyer? Don’t Use Anti-Gun Groups as a Resource

News  

Tuesday, May 30, 2023

Need a Good Lawyer? Don’t Use Anti-Gun Groups as a Resource

The anti-gun extremists at Giffords and March for Our Lives are running a joint operation to try to convince students in law school to sign a pledge to never represent anyone within “the gun industry or gun ...

Hypothesis or Hyperbole Gun Control Researchers Balk at Betting on Gun Control

News  

Tuesday, May 30, 2023

Hypothesis or Hyperbole Gun Control Researchers Balk at Betting on Gun Control

Dr. John Lott, Jr., a leading researcher and founder of the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC), recently embarked on an unusual personal experiment: how many pro-gun control academics would literally bet in favor of their own ...

Updates to ATF Final Rule on Stabilizing Braces

News  

Monday, January 30, 2023

Updates to ATF Final Rule on Stabilizing Braces

On Monday, January 30, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives’ (ATF) published the final Factoring Criteria for Firearms with Attached “Stabilizing Braces” rule for public inspection in the federal register.

Report: Biden Administration Weaponizes DHS “Anti-Terrorism” Program Against Political Opponents

News  

Tuesday, May 30, 2023

Report: Biden Administration Weaponizes DHS “Anti-Terrorism” Program Against Political Opponents

Those paying attention to official D.C. already know that Joe Biden’s political strategy involves portraying his political rivals, as not just wrong on policy or facts but as altogether illegitimate.

Connecticut:  Gun Control Bill Passes the House and Moves to the Senate

Saturday, May 27, 2023

Connecticut: Gun Control Bill Passes the House and Moves to the Senate

On Thursday, the House passed HB 6667 on a vote of 96-51.  This drastic gun control legislation has a bit of everything.  It contains a ban on open carry and strengthens prohibitions and registration of semi-auto "assault ...

Pennsylvania:  House Democrat Majority Passes Gun Control by Slimmest of Margins

Tuesday, May 23, 2023

Pennsylvania: House Democrat Majority Passes Gun Control by Slimmest of Margins

The House Democrat Majority leadership carried through on one of their agenda items late Monday afternoon – attacking law-abiding gun owners.  There are only a couple of sticking points for the gun-grabbers leading the Pennsylvania House.  ...

California: Six Anti-Gun Bills Pass Chamber of Origin, Others Still Eligible for Votes

Tuesday, May 30, 2023

California: Six Anti-Gun Bills Pass Chamber of Origin, Others Still Eligible for Votes

Last week, the Assembly and Senate both held floor votes and passed three anti-gun bills each. In addition, other anti-gun bills in the Assembly are still eligible for floor votes ahead of the June 2nd deadline ...

U.S. House Judiciary Committee Advances Pistol Brace Resolution

News  

Monday, April 24, 2023

U.S. House Judiciary Committee Advances Pistol Brace Resolution

On April 19, the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee voted 23-15 to advance H.J.Res.44, which would reign in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ attempt to regulate pistol stabilizing braces. The resolution employs ...

The Disingenuous “Assault Weapons” Ban

News  

Monday, May 8, 2023

The Disingenuous “Assault Weapons” Ban

On April 25, 2023, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) signed HB1240 into law. The legislation is a sweeping, and flagrantly unconstitutional ban on commonly-owned semi-automatic firearms. The law prohibits a host of rifles by name, including America’s ...

MORE TRENDING +
LESS TRENDING -

More Like This From Around The NRA

NRA ILA

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.