On Tuesday, the 9th U. S.
On Tuesday, the 9th U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Second Amendment protects a right to openly carry a gun in public for self-defense.
That ruling was a reversal of a decision by the U. S. District Court in Hawaii, which had ruled that state officials did not infringe on a citizen’s rights when they twice denied him a permit to carry a gun outside.
Two of the three 9th Circuit judges agreed to reverse the decision by the district court; Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain wrote, “We do not take lightly the problem of gun violence. But, for better or for worse, the Second Amendment does protect a right to carry a firearm in public for self-defense.”
The majority opinion stated:
The opinion added:
The right to keep guns at home, derived from the Second Amendment, was upheld by the United States Supreme Court in the 2008 case District of Columbia v. Heller.
The Second Amendment reads: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”