May 23, 2011

District Court Finds No Constitutional Right to Conceal Carry

(AuctionArms.com)-- Judge Morrison C. England, Jr. in the Eastern District of California issued a 16-page opinion finding that the Second Amendment does not protect a right to carry a concealed firearm. It came in the case," Richards v. County of Yolo (E.D. Cal.)".

Here is the key analysis section, according to Josh Blackman, a Teaching Fellow at the Pennsylvania State University Dickinson School of Law:

However, as the Supreme Court of the United States recently clarified in a landmark case, the “right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited. From Blackstone through the 19th-century cases, commentators and courts routinely explained that the right was not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.

"Heller, 554 U.S. at 626. In fact, the Court was careful to explain that their decision did not, in any way, invalidate many of the longstanding state and federal prohibitions on firearm possession. Id. at 627.4 Based upon this, Heller cannot be read to invalidate Yolo County’s concealed weapon policy, as the Second Amendment does not create a fundamental right to carry a concealed weapon in public."

In the decision's conclusion, England wrote, "Compared to many of this country’s constitutional protections, the scope of rights under the Second Amendment is ambiguous and no doubt subject to change and evolution over time. Nonetheless, even in light of Heller and McDonald, Yolo County’s concealed license policy is constitutionally valid."

To read Blackman's full breakdown of the case, click here.