On June 19, a Puerto Rican commonwealth court abolished the territory’s registry and licensing requirements for firearms, thereby making the Second Amendment the only requisite necessary to carry firearms openly or concealed.
The suit was brought by the Ladies of the Second Amendment (LSA), which “is affiliated with the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) through the International Association for the Protection of Civilian Arms Rights.” The suit also involved approximately “850 individual plaintiffs.”
According to SAF, the Puerto Rican court cited District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) and McDonald v. Chicago (2010) in making its decision.
Heller is the case in which the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) struck down the D.C. gun ban as a federal district violation of the right to self-defense, and McDonald is the case in which the SCOTUS ruled that gun rights are incorporated and, therefore, as equally protected from state violations as they are from federal.
In light of the Puerto Rican court’s decision, “there is [currently] no regulation to purchase or carry (and) all purchases will be handled in accordance with federal firearms regulations.”
SAF president Alan M. Gottlieb commented on the decision: “Cumbersome firearms regulations have never prevented criminals from getting their hands on guns. They have only inconvenienced law-abiding citizens, or deprived them outright from exercising their rights under the Second Amendment.”
Concealed carry of firearms is legal in all 50 states and open carry, with certain stipulations, is the law of the land in 45 states. In six of these 45 states—Arizona, Alaska, Kansas, Montana, Vermont, and Wyoming—law-abiding citizens can carry openly or concealed without a permit. Puerto Rico is now aligned with these six states.
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