Posted on 09/25/2009 8:20:05 AM PDT by neverdem
En banc arguments in a controversial gun rights case were animated Thursday, but don't be surprised if the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sits on this one for awhile.
A federal appellate court in Chicago said in June that the Second Amendment should not restrict state gun control laws until the Supreme Court rules that the right binds the states. The high court is scheduled to make up its mind next week about whether to grant cert.
"That may well give us an answer, and there would be no need for us to decide this case," 9th Circuit Judge Stephen Reinhardt said. Judge Susan Graber also wondered aloud at another point whether the circuit needed to rule on the constitutional issues.
A 9th Circuit panel disagreed with the 7th Circuit and found in an April ruling that the Second Amendment should apply more broadly. However, the three-judge panel still upheld an Alameda County, Calif., gun control ordinance, which prohibited firearms in sensitive public places and put the kibosh on a gun show at the county fairgrounds.
At the en banc arguments, Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain, who wrote the panel opinion, brought up California Attorney General Jerry Brown. Brown filed a brief in the 7th Circuit case, taking the side of the National Rifle Association.
"Do you disagree with your own state attorney general?" he asked a lawyer representing the county.
"Yes. Yes I do," replied Sayre Weaver of Richards, Watson & Gershon.
"I won't tell him when I see him," quipped Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, breaking up the courtroom. To which Weaver turned and gestured toward the galleries packed with spectators and press: "I have a feeling he'll find out somehow."
Brown didn't file any briefs in the California case, but his 7th Circuit brief disappointed gun control advocates. Earlier this week his office called it a "common-sense" approach to gun control and the Second Amendment.
The 9th Circuit appeared split on how far to go with the Second Amendment. Liberal stalwart Judge Harry Pregerson lambasted gun show attorney Donald Kilmer Jr., asking whether there would be more guns in California if Kilmer's side prevailed.
"What is the hidden agenda here?" Pregerson demanded, prompting O'Scannlain to shake his head with disdain.
"I don't know that there's a hidden agenda," Kilmer said, adding that a broad interpretation of the Second Amendment may not necessarily mean an increase in gun ownership.
Kozinski posed tough hypotheticals to both sides. To Kilmer, he persistently asked whether his clients could simply find somewhere else -- on private property, for instance -- to hold their shows. Kilmer replied that their business model was based on using county fairgrounds.
"You know, people do change business models with changing conditions," Kozinski said.
To the county, Kozinski queried why fairgrounds are such sensitive places. Because large gatherings raised crowd control concerns, Weaver replied.
There are a couple of gun shows every year at our state fairgrounds. Last year, there was a shooting inside the building. A first.
It was an off-duty LEO, working security, fiddling with his piece, out of it’s holster.....
Since you said it was a shooting, I suppose some poor sap took the round from the idiot’s handgun.
None of the paying (unarmed) customers were injured. The round struck the floor, shattering and slightly wounding the LEO in the leg. Another LEO, standing near by, also caught a couple pieces in the lower leg......
Gotta love it
You’re not kidding. Gotta love the “experts”
The Unicorn Riders can apply due process as the whim strikes them.
???? Don't fairgrounds *exist* for large gatherings? What does "crowd control" have to do with, the nature of the products being displayed and shown to said crowds, and the right of the individuals in those crowds to exercise their Constitutionally protected rights?
Kennesaw GA requires all households to own a working weapon and ammo.
Two firearms deaths in the city since that law was passed: One was in a highway motel, committed by a traveler on his girlfriend in the motel.
Second was a Kennesaw cop trainee, shot and killed at a Marietta GA police range by a Marietta police officer.
No Kennesaw residents killed in over 30 years of 2nd amendment rights.
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Thanks for the ping!
9th circus, ought to be interesting.
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