By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
A federal judge in Connecticut has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the state’s ban on carrying firearms for personal protection in state parks, but the Stamford Advocate is reporting the plaintiff in this case—David Nastri, an attorney and financial advisor—plans to appeal.
U.S. District Judge Janet Aterton said Nastri lacks standing to bring the lawsuit, although he reportedly acknowledged in court documents he had previously carried a gun while vising the parks but stopped in 2022 when he learned of the prohibition. According to the CT News Junkie, Judge Aterton said the regulation isn’t likely to be enforced, justifying her ruling.
Nastri’s legal challenge sought to undo the regulation, adopted in 1918, as a violation of Second and 14th Amendment rights, according to published reports. Whether the prohibition was not likely to be enforced is not the point.
According to WVIT, the NBC affiliate in New Britain, Nastri’s attorney, Cameron Atkinson, is hoping for a “speedy review” of the trial judge’s decision by the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. He told the news agency he is willing to take the case to the Supreme Court.
The parks rule has been in place for more than a century, but the judge found no evidence the prohibition had ever been enforced. She noted in her decision that Nastri’s assertions were “imaginary” and “speculative.”
Judge Aterton reportedly noted that Nastri had never encountered a Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) during his state park visits, and officers don’t randomly search people to see if they are carrying firearms.
“Neither party’s witnesses have personal knowledge of the Challenged Regulation being enforced; Plaintiff admitted that he has never heard of this regulation being enforced against anyone, and Colonel (Chris) Lewis testified that he could not recall a single circumstance in which an EnCon ranger or officer had been required to enforce the regulation,” judge Aterton wrote.
Lewis is the Environmental Conservation Police director.
At times guns are allowed in the parks for hunting or hunter education, but not for self-defense purposes. Also, nobody apparently ever noticed whether Nastri was armed during his park visits.