A federal judge ruled in early March that the District of Columbia can continue to enforce its gun-permitting system, while she considers a closely watched constitutional challenge to the city’s requirement that applicants show “good reason” before obtaining permits to carry a concealed handgun in public.
The decision by US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly marked a reversal from a ruling last May by US District Judge Frederick J. Scullin Jr. — a visiting federal judge from New York — who barred the city from enforcing what courts called the “good reason/other proper reason” regulation.
Kollar-Kotell’s decision had no immediate impact on Washington, DC, police gun-permitting processes, which have remained in force since an appeals court in June stayed Scullin’s preliminary injunction and later set it aside, ordering that a new judge hear the case.
A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit said in December that Scullin should not have handled the case.
