Wow! Federal Court Says 2nd Amendment Preserves No Right to Actually Bear Arms
A ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals out of San Francisco serves as a stark reminder to anyone with an interest in protecting the right to keep and bear, as well as in protecting liberty, more generally, that there will never be a day when the fight to preserve expeditious, useful access to firearms can be seen in the rearview mirror.
In a 7-4 ruling that came down on Thursday, the federal appeals court said flatly that the Second Amendment does not include an inherent right to carry a concealed firearm in public. The Ninth Circuit covers Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.
The case at the center of this decision, Peruva V. Cty. of San Diego, had its origins back in 2009, when San Diego County resident Edward Peruta���s application for a concealed carry license was rejected because he failed to show ���good cause��� for needing the permit. ���Good cause��� provisions of local gun laws, used in conjunction with the concealed carry application process, have been subject to greater challenges in recent years as more gun owners see them as an unreasonable impediment to exercising their constitutional right to not merely keep, but bear, firearms.
While the ruling was stunning on its face for what it said, it also came as a shock to many observers because it was a reversal of a previous ruling made by the same court on behalf of the same case back in 2014. At that time, it was a three-judge panel that heard Peruta, and the decision it rendered declared that the Second Amendment ���does require that the states permit some form of carry for self-defense outside the home.��� In the wake of that outcome, however, a dissatisfied Kamala Harris, California Attorney General, requested that the Ninth Circuit look at the case again, and court members voted to rehear it en banc, meaning, with the full roster of judges and not just a panel of them.
The majority opinion of yesterday���s decision was written by Judge William Fletcher, a Bill Clinton appointee, which said, in part (and with frightening succinctness), ���We hold that the Second Amendment does not preserve or protect a right of a member of the general public to carry concealed firearms in public.���
Wow���just wow. Well, you can���t accuse the other side of being coy about pursuing their agenda; there it is, right out in the open: The Second Amendment preserves no right for you to actually bear arms in any useful manner���even though the right to bear is enshrined in the amendment itself.
Remember this come November. Like many of you, I am less than enthused about the Republican option that will be available in this year���s general election���but the choice on the other side is no choice at all. I now see the next president almost exclusively as the source of selections of members to the federal judiciary, including the Supreme Court, for the next four years. Please do not forget, not for a moment, the great���indeed, overriding���importance of this aspect of the 2016 election.
By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large
