Following the Supreme Court’s 2008 decision in DC v. Heller, the District of Columbia was forced to allow handgun ownership. They quickly cobbled together the Firearms Control Emergency Amendment Act of 2008, into which they put as many obstacles as they could. They retained a very intrusive and burdensome registration system that wouldn’t pass constitutional muster in most other places.
Dick Heller and the 2nd Amendment Foundation brought another suit challenging several of the District’s regulations, and thus far, the courts have been uncooperative. Today’s decision in the US District Court [pdf] doesn’t leave us with much hope.
Judge Boasberg approached the proceedings with a hostile and dismissive mind. The Supreme Court found that rational basis was off the table when considering laws abridging the right to keep and bear arms, so he simply calls it intermediate scrutiny.
Given that the Supreme Court urges judicial deference to legislative predictions as well as to legislative judgments regarding conflicting evidence,it is plain that Plaintiffs are mistaken about the burden of proof in this case.
Continued...