A federal appeals court denied the District of Columbia’s challenge to a decision that would allow residents to keep handguns in their homes, setting up the possibility of a constitutional clash over gun ownership before the U.S. Supreme Court.
D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty said he was “disappointed and shocked” by the U.S. Court of Appeals 6-4 decision not to rehear the case. The court’s three-judge panel in March ruled that the District’s ban on handguns in the home was unconstitutional. The District sought a hearing by the entire member appeals court and was denied.
The District has 90 days to appeal Tuesday’s decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. The city’s ban on guns will remain in effect until then, Fenty said.
Fenty said he has not determined whether the District would appeal to the nation’s highest court or seek legislative remedies that would allow handguns in the home but require that they be registered and stored safely.
His administration could seek both measures, he said.
“We are committed to combating gun violence,” he said. “Residents expect us to fight aggressively to make sure laws are as strong as possible.”
The six residents who challenged the city’s 31-year-old ban on handgun owners said they wanted to keep guns in their home because they didn’t feel safe.
“It’s unfortunate that they feel that way,” Deputy Police Chief Winston Robinson said. “More than likely the weapon in the home will be used against them or wind up in the wrong hands.”
In 2004, a lower-court judge told the six D.C. residents that they did not have a constitutional right to own handguns.
But in a 2-1 decision, the judges held that protections of the Second Amendment “are not limited to militia service, nor is an individual’s enjoyment of the right contingent” on enrollment in a militia.
Fenty said it marked the first time that a federal appeals court has struck down a handgun law based on the Second Amendment.
If the dispute makes it there, it would be the first case in almost 70 years to address the Second Amendment’s scope.
