Federal Judge Overturns DC Ban on Carrying Handguns in Public

A federal judge in Washington, D.C. has overturned the city’s ban on citizens carrying handguns in public.

In a landmark 19-page ruling, Judge Frederick Scullin Jr. wrote in Palmer v. District of Columbia that “there is no longer any basis on which this Court can conclude that the District of Columbia’s total ban on the public carrying of ready-to-use handguns outside the home is constitutional under any level of scrutiny.”

“We won,” Alan Gura, the lead attorney for the Second Amendment Foundation, told Fox News in a phone interview. “I’m very pleased with the decision that the city can’t forbid the exercise of a fundamental constitutional right.”

Gura also said that he expected the District of Columbia to appeal the decision, before adding “We’ll be happy to keep the fight going.”

According to Fox, Scullin made specific to previous decisions like District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) and McDonald v. Chicago (2010) to bolster his decision. As a result of Scullin’s ruling, the court has ordered the city to allow residents to carry a firearm within its boundaries.

Judge Scullin wrote that the court “enjoins Defendants from enforcing the home limitations of [D.C. gun laws] unless and until such time as the District of Columbia adopts a licensing mechanism consistent with constitutional standards enabling people to exercise their Second Amendment right to bear arms.”

Fox reported that the case languished in the courts for five years before the decision this past weekend.