Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Two men in New York state were told by a licensing official that they had not demonstrated a sufficient need to carry a firearm for self defense outside their home.
Now, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry has joined 22 other state attorneys general in a brief to the United States Supreme Court supporting the right of Americans to bear arms outside of their homes.
The brief, led by Missouri and Arizona, argues that permitting law-abiding citizens to carry firearms in self-defense outside the home respects their fundamental rights and deters violent crime.
Forty-two states have objective-issue, or “shall-issue,” permitting regimes, meaning permits are issued to applications that meet objective criteria, such as a background check, mental health records check, fingerprinting, knowledge of applicable laws, firearms training, or other requirements.
However, in addition to these objective criteria, New York requires an applicant “demonstrate a special need for self-protection distinguishable from that of the general community or of persons engaged in the same profession.”
In 2008, in a majority opinion written by the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the court ruled that the Second Amendment grants an individual a right to possess a firearm at home and to use it for self defense.
But plaintiffs Robert Nash and Brandon Koch are now asking the court to declare that the Constitution confers a right to carry a weapon for self defense purposes outside the home, as well.
The men who were denied a concealed-carry license say in their petition to the Supreme Court, “For more than a decade since (the 2008 ruling) numerous courts of appeals have squarely divided on this critical question: whether the Second Amendment allows the government to deprive ordinary law-abiding citizens of the right to possess and carry a handgun outside the home.”
Every American has a God-given, fundamental right to self-defense.
The brief that Landry signed argues that “permitting law-abiding citizens to carry firearms in self-defense outside the home respects their fundamental rights and deters violent crime.”
It also says that New York and other states’ “subjective-issue permitting regimes” — which “require an applicant demonstrate a special need for self-protection distinguishable from that of the general community or of persons engaged in the same profession” — are an infringement on an individual’s rights.
Hannah Shearer, the litigation director at Giffords Law Center, said in a Wednesday interview that the attorneys general “have the law wrong and the facts wrong.”
The law center, led by former Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords who was shot in the head during a 2011 assassination attempt, promotes strong gun control laws across the country.
“The Constitution does not require concealed carry permits for everyone, regardless of criminal history and signs of dangerousness,” Shearer said. “And the AGs will help the cause of armed extremists and insurrectionists if they succeed in blocking law enforcement from making informed judgments about concealed carry permits.”
Shearer said local law enforcement — not state politicians — should make the final call about who should be issued a permit to carry a loaded gun in public.
“Louisiana has the fourth-highest gun death rate of any state,” Shearer said. “And we would urge AG Landry to focus on solving gun violence within his borders instead of seeking to undermine gun safety nationwide.”
Landry believes “Every American has a God-given, fundamental right to self-defense.”
“Whether a person is inside or outside their home has no bearing on that right. These restrictive policies decrease public safety and violate the Second Amendment,” he said in a statement issued Wednesday.
Along with Missouri and Arizona, state attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia also joined the brief.
— By JC Canicosa/Louisiana Illuminator. Additional reporting by BossierNow staff.
https://www.bossiernow.com/attorney-general-jeff-landry-joins-fight-for-second-amendment-rights/