By Dave Workman
Senior Editor
Gun registration and training requirements, and a limit on monthly handgun purchases, do not violate the Second Amendment, according to a District of Columbia federal judge, who dismissed a case challenging the District’s tough gun control laws.
U.S. District Court Judge James E. Boasberg, an Obama appointee to the bench in 2010 who was confirmed in 2011, noted in his ruling that, “The people of this city, acting through their elected representatives, have sought to combat gun violence and promote public safety. The Court finds that they have done so in a constitutionally permissible manner.”
The lawsuit, commonly known as “Heller II” was brought by Dick Anthony Heller and other plaintiffs. Heller was the plaintiff in the 2008 lawsuit that overturned the District’s gun ban and established that the Second Amendment protects and affirms an individual civil right to keep and bear arms.
But it was other testimony that swayed the judge, including that delivered by Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier, according to the Washington Times.
Judge Boasberg said in his ruling that “even under the current limitation, District residents can still accumulate up to 12 news pistols each year. That is more than enough.”
The Distrcit’s anti-gun policies have rankled gun rights advocates for decades, and especially in the six years since the 2008 Heller ruling. About 2 ½ years ago, the District Court upheld the city’s ban on so-called “assault rifles” and several months later, in 2012, the city amended its registration requirements, removing the mandate that gun owners submit to background checks every six years. That didn’t satisfy the plaintiffs in Heller II, who still wanted a rollback on gun owner requirements.
Judge Boasberg’s ruling leaves in lace the city’s requirement that gun registrations be renewed every three years. The Washington Times estimates there were some 30,000 legal guns registered in the city prior to 2011.
It is not known what implications this ruling may have nationally, but it has set off alarms with some gun rights activists.
In his ruling, the judge contended that the District had “attempted to lighten the burden of the safety course, reducing it from five hours to only one.” However, gun activists still consider the district’s regulations to be Draconian.
However, Judge Boasberg considers the District’s registration requirements to be “substantially related to the District’s interests in police protection and public safety and narrowly tailored to achieving those interests.”
