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D.C. Is Sued Again Over Handgun Rules
Washington Post ^ | July 29, 2008 | Del Quentin Wilber and Paul Duggan

Posted on 07/29/2008 2:00:44 PM PDT by neverdem

The man who successfully challenged the D.C. handgun ban before the U.S. Supreme Court filed a second federal lawsuit yesterday, alleging that the District's new gun-registration system is burdensome and continues to unlawfully outlaw most semiautomatic pistols.

Dick A. Heller, a 66-year-old security guard who lives on Capitol Hill, and two other plaintiffs allege in the lawsuit that the D.C. government violated the letter and the spirit of the landmark Supreme Court decision, issued June 26, that struck down the District's decades-old handgun ban.

The 5 to 4 ruling concluded that the Second Amendment grants individuals the right to possess guns for self-defense but said governments may impose reasonable restrictions. The lawsuit filed yesterday in U.S District Court says the District's restrictions go too far.

The suit urges U.S. District Judge Richard M. Urbina to toss most of the District's new requirements, which include ballistics tests of registered handguns. It also asks him to eliminate restrictions on semiautomatic handguns and to order D.C. police to approve the handgun applications of the three plaintiffs.

The suit could take months, if not years, to resolve. Until then, the new regulations remain in place. The District's top litigator said yesterday that he expects "a long fight" over the rules.

The District's handgun registration is limited almost entirely to revolvers; a previous D.C. law bans machine guns and includes a broad definition of such weapons, encompassing most semiautomatic pistols. Such magazine-loaded semiautomatic pistols -- the kind of...

--snip--

That rule flouts the Supreme Court decision, making it virtually impossible for a gun owner to legally use a weapon in self-defense, said Heller's attorney, Stephen P. Halbrook.

"Under the D.C. [law], a robber has to make an appointment with you so you can get your gun ready for him," Halbrook said in an interview...

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; Government; Politics/Elections; US: District of Columbia
KEYWORDS: 2ndamendment; banglist; dcsaysupyours; democratparty; democrats; heller; rkba; rtc; secondamendment; shallnotbeinfringed; washingtonpost
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To: neverdem
The District's top litigator said yesterday that he expects "a long fight" over the rules.

What this piece of excrement won't admit is that he *wants* this to be a long fight.And that once this fight is resolved there'll be *another* defiant,unconstitutional law enacted and there'll be *another* "long fight"..........

41 posted on 07/29/2008 3:19:00 PM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Obama:"Ich bein ein beginner")
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To: RandallFlagg

Ding! Ding! Ding! You win!


42 posted on 07/29/2008 3:19:57 PM PDT by proudofthesouth (Homosexuality IS a choice! There isn't any biological reason for it. They CHOOSE to be that way!)
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To: neverdem

My understanding is that the Supreme Court does not take kindly to government entities flouting a ruling.


43 posted on 07/29/2008 3:21:59 PM PDT by Tench_Coxe
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To: DoughtyOne
"There should be recourse so that when rulings by the Supreme Court are ignored by government entities, these types of measures could be struck down almost overnight, and those who conspired to circumvent the laws could be incarcerated."

We do indeed have such a solution available to us! Have you considered joining the vigilance committee?

If joining the committee is not what you prefer, perhaps you might perfer to think along the lines of article VI of the United States Constitution which states;

"...This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding. ..."This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding...."

From the wording of paragraph 2 of section VI, two things are easily discernible.

  1. any enactment which is not made in pursuance of the Constitution is not a law at all, and is void.
  2. It is the constitution itself, and not judges or anybody else which makes it void.

The choice is ours, either we press our representatives to obey the law they have sworn to uphold, or, we implement some form of vigilantism to do the job we elected them to do.

44 posted on 07/29/2008 3:39:37 PM PDT by An Old Man ("The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they suppress." Douglas)
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To: Tench_Coxe; El Gato; Squantos; Eaker; humblegunner

Do you mean “this” Supreme Court???

Filing a restraining order against our government does sound like an interesting concept...I keep thinking how funny it would be to actually go somewhere and attempt to file one...Just to see the reaction...

Going to be hard to enforce though...Seeings how close the government is to us at every turn of our day...And night...


45 posted on 07/29/2008 3:46:59 PM PDT by stevie_d_64 (Houston Area Texans (I've always been hated))
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To: RandallFlagg
I’m thinking that they’re going to try and drag this for as long as it takes to get Obama into the WH, and he appoints some other SCOTUS judges

Exactly.

46 posted on 07/29/2008 3:49:36 PM PDT by batter (The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time. - Thomas Jefferson)
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To: stevie_d_64
Filing a restraining order against our government does sound like an interesting concept...

I was thinking of a very limited order against the government of DC, probably an unconstitutional body anyway, since the Constitution says Congress has exclusive legislative authority over DC. But be that as it may, an order restraining DC from enforcing any gun law, until they come up with one that the Supreme Court, or even just the DC Circuit Court, explicitly signs off on, would concentrate their minds, if any, don't you think?

47 posted on 07/29/2008 3:57:31 PM PDT by El Gato ("The Second Amendment is the RESET button of the United States Constitution." -- Doug McKay)
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To: El Gato

Absolutely...


48 posted on 07/29/2008 4:00:06 PM PDT by stevie_d_64 (Houston Area Texans (I've always been hated))
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Comment #49 Removed by Moderator

To: neverdem

Sue them and then sue them again. Keep suing until they give up.


50 posted on 07/29/2008 4:21:50 PM PDT by TigersEye (Drill or get off the Hill. ... call Nancy Pelosi @ 202 - 225 - 0100)
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To: djsherin

You answered your own question, djsherin.

The capital of the greatest and freest country on earth is filled with socialist government rats. The capital has been infested with progressive Marxist scum since Woodrow Wilson. And it’s getting worse...


51 posted on 07/29/2008 4:22:50 PM PDT by sergeantdave (We are entering the Age of the Idiot)
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To: neverdem

I know Heller’s lawyer, Halbrook, and his parents and siblings. His parents however are deceased. He recently wrote a book on the second amendment which my library bought. It would make interesting reading for this discussion. However, I haven’t read it yet. Halbrook has worked on such issues most of his career.
His new book published in June is: Founder’s Second Amendment: Origins of the Right to bear arms.

Found here at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_adv_b/?search-alias=stripbooks&unfiltered=1&field-keywords=&field-author=Stephen+Halbrook&field-title=&field-isbn=&field-publisher=&node=&url=&field-feature_browse-bin=&field-binding_browse-bin=&field-subject=&field-language=&field-dateop=&field-datemod=&field-dateyear=&sort=relevancerank&Adv-Srch-Books-Submit.x=33&Adv-Srch-Books-Submit.y=7


52 posted on 07/29/2008 4:22:50 PM PDT by daylilly
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To: neverdem

Hammer those clowns until they submit! Communists can never be given an inch, look what it has led us to so far.


53 posted on 07/29/2008 4:29:38 PM PDT by vpintheak (Like a muddied spring or a polluted well is a righteous man who gives way to the wicked. Prov. 25:26)
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To: neverdem
"The suit could take months, if not years, to resolve."

To an intelligent judge, it should take about as long as it takes to read the petition and grab the gavel.

54 posted on 07/29/2008 4:38:21 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Jimmy Carter is the skidmark in the panties of American History)
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To: RandallFlagg
I’m thinking that they’re going to try and drag this for as long as it takes to get Obama into the WH, and he appoints some other SCOTUS judges to the bench.

Please, God forbid.

55 posted on 07/29/2008 4:39:57 PM PDT by upchuck (As we doggedly march towards dystopia, my poor country is losing it's mind. God help us!)
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To: Mr. K
"after all what recourse is there if the lower courts don’t obey the supreme court?"

Certiorari I suspect.

56 posted on 07/29/2008 4:41:14 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Jimmy Carter is the skidmark in the panties of American History)
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To: Charlespg
"Place the city under martial law and send in federal troops to enforce the courts decision"

You're forgetting that the Bush Justice Dept's brief was in favor of the D.C. law.

57 posted on 07/29/2008 4:44:49 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Jimmy Carter is the skidmark in the panties of American History)
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To: RandallFlagg

I think you’re correct.


58 posted on 07/29/2008 4:48:35 PM PDT by metesky ("Brethren, leave us go amongst them." Rev. Capt. Samuel Johnston Clayton - Ward Bond- The Searchers)
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To: neverdem

Listen carefully, we have slowly evolved into a police state under corrupt power hungry greedy politicians. It is evident that the Constitution is a worthless piece of paper and there is no agency within he Government with the will to support it. As the electronic stage grew, so the box will get even smaller. Just watch as your freedoms disappear. Apply this power and all guns in the hands of us citizens will no longer be tolerated. And it is always for the betterment of the people.


59 posted on 07/29/2008 4:49:57 PM PDT by Logical me (Oh, well!!!)
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To: glock rocks; SouthTexas

And unfortunately we have a candidate for president who makes Bob Dole look like Charlton Heston (Moses)...


60 posted on 07/29/2008 5:03:18 PM PDT by tubebender (Why does a round pizza come in a square box?)
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