DC Carry ruling... finally

Status
Not open for further replies.
Absolute true. Gura posted on his blog he is concerned that he sometimes cannot post to his blog in real time and if a stay is granted and the ruling temporarily suspended, some folks could get caught in DC and be locked up. Be very careul as Sam points out.
 
Now the interesting thing, to me, is that since this is merely an injunction against enforcing a law prohibiting carry, (to state the obvious) it ISN'T a law governing carry.

That means that aside from the federal laws pertaining to federal buildings occupied by federal workers, there's no list of prohibited places and I'd assume rather a wide open clean slate regarding all sorts of other carry laws. Since they've hand no lawful carry, they haven't written that you can't carry in a bar, or a church. As one example, probably don't (???) have a specific charge for possession of a gun while drinking, or on "posted" private property, since up until now possession of a gun AT ALL would be a felony.

One thing to be exceptionally careful about is GFSZA. That could be an absolute KILLER. As you can't possibly have a permit to carry issued by DC that qualifies you to carry within a distance of 1,000 feet from the grounds of a public, parochial or private school, you would be violating GFSZA if you do.

And you can rest assured that there are a LOT of schools in DC. And you can visualize that when you're on a random city street you're almost always within 1,000 feet of hundreds of things you don't know of or suspect are there. Like schools.

Now, I have to imagine that probably about 0.01% of DC cops have ever heard of GFSZA, and even fewer would have any better idea than you do that you happen to be standing 937' from Ms. Crabopple's second grade class held in the basement of the local Catholic Church. (And the Chief's instruction sheet did not bring up GFSCA as a useful "gotcha!")

But if they really wanted to HURT people who dared carry in the District, that would sure be a way to do it.

If you're going to carry, try your darnedest to figure out ahead of time how to avoid school grounds.
Click to expand...

Does DC have it's own version of the Clintonian GFCZA? The federal GFCZA was challenged and as long as what you're complying with local law you're good to go. I wouldn't know since you can carry in a school where I'm from .
 
Glennv, the original GFSZA was challenged and ruled against by SCOTUS. It was amended and put back into effect in 1996. In amended form it is still the law of the land, applicable in all states and the District.

(So in your state, according to federal law, no you can't carry in a school unless you have a permit or license issued by your state that authorizes you to do so.)
 
I've already seen pics of some folks from NOVA walking on the mall, handgun OC and no reports of anything negative. We will see what today holds.
 
Everyone should mass email Gura and tell him that people have started celebrating by carrying into DC.
Allowing a stay now could easily cause some people to be arrested.

Does Gura grant the stay or the judge?
 
tyeo098 said:
Everyone should mass email Gura and tell him that people have started celebrating by carrying into DC.
Allowing a stay now could easily cause some people to be arrested.

Does Gura grant the stay or the judge?
Click to expand...
Gura has no power to issue a stay or not issue one. It is up to the court.

mass emailing Gura is a really dumb idea.
 
ilbob said:
Gura has no power to issue a stay or not issue one. It is up to the court.

mass emailing Gura is a really dumb idea.
Click to expand...
Doesn't he have to accept the terms though? Or at least have some input?

What do YOU suggest we should do then? Aside from bend over and hope for the best.
 
Everyone should mass email Gura and tell him that people have started celebrating by carrying into DC.

Allowing a stay now could easily cause some people to be arrested.
Click to expand...

Gura is keenly aware of this and stated as much on his blog and said he sometimes cannot update the blog in real time, so he cautioned people on what might occur.

Like being knowledgeable on carry laws in other states, it's not his responsibility to keep us updated. That's up to us.

I agree mailing him is a really bad idea. his plate is too full already.

IANAL
 
Doesn't he have to accept the terms though? Or at least have some input?

What do YOU suggest we should do then? Aside from bend over and hope for the best.
Click to expand...

He is allowed to file a brief to oppose whatever DC requests. All parties must accept the Judge's ruling on a stay.

It's not up to us. Everyone waits and sees what the Judge rules. It's out of everyone's hands until the Judge decides on whether to grant a stay. If he denies, DC can and mist likely will go to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals and ask them to stay the order while the apppeal is in progress. That's all we can do. We're spectators here. All my supposition of course.

IANAL
 
There's really nothing WE can do to influence the process at this point. A polite thank you to Mr. Gura for his work would not be inappropriate, or better yet, a donation to SAF.

There are many factors involved in granting or denying a stay, reasons for and against, but I doubt that "folks are celebrating and might get arrested if the law goes back into effect" is going to be a compelling one to the judge.

Honestly, a whole lot of people showing up in downtown DC with openly carried firearms may be a fun thing to imagine, but it probably would have a whole lot more negative repercussions than positive ones. This is one of those things that probably should be played real cool. Descending on DC like a victorious invading army, rubbing their noses in it, is not really going to make the transition smooth and easy -- which should be our goal.
 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

THIS exactly.

We might be on the cusp of something great here if we play it smart. We want to convince people who might be fence sitters we are not the militant extremists many people view us to be IMO. Let's be good polite ambassadors for the 2A and we may well prevail. Then we can celebrate when it's finally decided.

Being a gracious victor is always better than gloating, especially since this is far from over. Things can go bad pretty quickly if we misstep.

We're being watched for sure.

Let's as the name says, take the HIGH ROAD.

My .02. YMMV
 
Just to flesh out my thinking there, it is clear that the DC Chief will play cool (at least initially) with the ruling if it stands. We really couldn't ask for a better set of marching orders for her officers than what she's given thus far.

However.

If "we" (the thousands of die-hard gun nuts in this area :)) are hyper obnoxious with our victory rallies, open carry marches, and especially if the less cautious of us get to posing for 'selfies' with our ARs on the Capitol steps next to a visiting bunch of suburban schoolkids... or heaven forbid breaking other laws or having an ND -- public pressure will ramp up to a degree that the Chief and her political bosses won't be able to ignore.

And that's when they'll start looking for any and all charges they can use to get gun carriers off their streets. Imagine if the Chief decides to issue her officers maps of their beats with all of the schools highlighted with 1,000' circles in red, with orders to arrest anyone with a gun who they find in them? Easy to do, and a totally legit arrest. And that's just one example.

Right now she seems to be letting things roll with the apparent intent of the judge (as near as we can tell). But we all should understand by now that, the way our system of laws is written, if there's enough desire to put a hurtin' on folks they can probably find a way.

It would be MUCH better to get a year or two out and look back and see that there were no big confrontations, no huge public battle, and the transition happened smoothly and (to whatever extent possible) quietly.
 
Your pic looked like a very reasonable and responsible way to go about it, though I'd probably say that tens or hundreds of folks all OC-ing, even as positively as you were, might be pushing our luck.

But by far the real crash point is going to be the (almost inevitable) bonehead with his rifle out near the White House, or the hundreds of desperate MWAG calls when neck beard and shorty saunter into Union Station or whatever. It's almost guaranteed to happen, and it will NOT be good for us.
 
Whoops, missed the follow-up there. Honestly, for the time being that might be a blessing in disguise to our side. Eventually we'll want that gone, but there's some temporary good in it, I think.
 
tyeo098 said:
Doesn't he have to accept the terms though? Or at least have some input?

What do YOU suggest we should do then? Aside from bend over and hope for the best.
Click to expand...
I think there is little we can do to affect any stay request in any positive way. It is not up for a vote from the Internet. it is solely a court decision, and properly so.
 
I think it's important to note that the injunction only applies to the carry ban on residents and non-residents. All other parts of the DC gun laws are still in effect such as the 10 round magazine capacity limit and what constitutes a machine gun.

DC is still working out the details and they should have some clearer direction out later this week. Apparently, the 10 round magazine capacity limit isn't being enforced for non-residents at this time but there could be important changes made even before the judge's ruling is made concerning a stay.
 
even if for only a day, I never thought in my life time the right of the people to keep AND bear arms in wash d.c. would be possible.
 
You know, it would be awfully cool to have the 1st Annual THR Meet & Greet on the National Capitol Mall...


I would fly in from the west coast for that.....



Willie

.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Gary Slider
  • Locked
NV Honors IL. . . DC Fed Judge Ruling . . . Handgunlaw.us DDoS Attack
Replies
1
Views
568
barnbwt
barnbwt
J
  • Locked
DC gun ruling is on 90 day hold, but prosecutors aren't enforcing carry ban
Replies
0
Views
532
jbrown50
J
I
  • Locked
Latest ruling from D.C.
2
Replies
28
Views
4K
wojownik
wojownik
danez71
  • Locked
Federal court strikes down DC anti-concealed carry law
Replies
20
Views
2K
Elkins45
Elkins45
U
  • Locked
D.C. gives up on ban on carrying guns in public
Replies
11
Views
1K
mgkdrgn
M
Back
Top