By Mike Ward
A federal judge in Lubbock today threw out the National Rifle Association’s move to overturn a Texas law prohibiting 18-20 year-olds from carrying concealed weapons.
In dismissing the case that had drawn national interest, U.S. District Judge Sam Cummings ruled that “Texas has identified a legitimate state interest — public safety — and passed legislation that is rationally related to addressing that issue.”
Under current law, Texans must be age 21 or older to get a concealed-handgun permit. Members or veterans of the armed forces who are younger than 21 can also be licensed.
The ruling was seen as a win for the State of Texas and gun-control advocates and university groups — including two student-government groups at the University of Texas at Austin — who had argued that most Texans under age 21 should not be licensed to carry concealed weapons.
The case was filed by three Texans between 18 and 21 — Rebekah Jennings, Brennan Harmon and Andrew Payne — and the National Rifle Association, which argued that the Texas handgun-licensing law was discriminatory and unconstitutional.
In his decision, Cummings ruled that the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution — the right to bear arms — “does not confer a right that extends beyond the home.” He noted that under current law, Texans can possess guns in the homes without a state license.
Cummings, who gained notoriety several years ago by upholding the constitutional right to bear arms in a separate case before the U.S. Supreme Court did so, noted in his ruling that a 2008 decision by high court underscored that “the right was not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.”
Texas’ licensing law “does not burden the fundamental right to keep and bear arms,” Cummings wrote in his opinion, rejecting arguments made earlier in the case by the NRA.
The opinion suggests that the age issue raised in the case should be settled at the State Capitol — “either to petition the Texas Legislature for a change in state law or, on a national level, to rally for a constitutional amendment.”
Cummings last September had dismissed a separate lawsuit filed by the National Rifle Association challenging the constitutionality of a federal law prohibiting the sale of handguns to people under 21.
Representatives for the NRA and several Texas groups that had intervened in the case in support of the state law — Mothers Against Teen Violence and Students for Gun-Free Schools in Texas — could not immediately be reached for comment.
Daniel Vice, a senior attorney at the Brady Center To Prevent Gun Violence’s Legal Action Project in Washington, hailed the decision. The Brady Center was an intervenor in the case. “We are pleased the court rejected the NRA’s extreme claim that the Second Amendment means that we must allow armed teens on our streets,” Vice said. “This ruling follows those from more than a dozen other courts around the country that have held there is no right to carry loaded semi-automatic weapons in our communities, parks and playgrounds.”
Like other supporters of the state law who had filed briefs in the case, the Brady Center had cited studies concluding that people 18-20 often lack the same ability as adults to “govern impulsivity, judgment, planning for the future, and foresight of consequences. They also within the age range of offenders with the highest rates of homicide and criminal gun possession, filings stated.
Today’s ruling marked the latest of four decisions in the past week that have dismissed gun-lobby challenges to state and federal firearms laws.
A week ago, in a ruling affecting thousands of high-firepower rifle sales in Texas, Arizona, California, and New Mexico, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., dismissed a gun lobby challenge to an Obama Administration rule requiring that gun dealers in the four border states notify law enforcement of bulk sales of semi-automatic rifles, such as AK-47 assault rifles.
Last Friday, a federal judge in California upheld Los Angeles County’s strong concealed carry laws as another federal judge upheld New Jersey’s strong restrictions on the public carrying of guns.
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2012/01/19/judge_dismisses_texas_gunlaw_c.html?cxtype=rss_news
>>Cummings ruled that the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution — the right to bear arms — “does not confer a right that extends beyond the home.”
ReplyDeleteThis Judge's statement is absolutely and fundamentally wrong. The 2nd amendment of the us constitution DOES NOT CONFER ANY RIGHTS it simply acknowledges those that are GRANTED BY GOD. And one of the rights that it specifies is the right to own and BEAR arms. Ie: not just to own them but to BEAR them. Meaning to keep them on your person at all times. Ignorant Judge!