Court Rejects D.C.’s En Banc Request: ‘Good Reason’ for Concealed Carry Remains Unconstitutional

On September 28 the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected a request for an en banc hearing of Wrenn v. District of Columbia.

On June 25, Breitbart News reported that D.C. Circuit Judge Thomas Beall Griffith was a part of three judge panel that heard Wrenn ruled D.C.’s requirement that applicants show “good reason” for needing a concealed carry permit is unconstitutional. Griffith made clear that the requirement could not pass muster in light of District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), saying:

At the Second Amendment’s core lies the right of responsible citizens to carry firearms for personal self-defense beyond the home, subject to longstanding restrictions. … The District’s good-reason law is necessarily a total ban on exercises of that constitutional right for most D.C. residents. That’s enough to sink this law under (the 2008 U.S. Supreme Court’s Heller ruling).

The city requested that the case be reheard en banc in hopes of reversing the panel’s ruling, but the Court has now rejected the request. This means the permanent injunction issued by the D.C. Circuit panel in June will stand.

The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) has been actively involved in Wrenn and sent Breitbart News a statement following the September 28 ruling. The statement quoted founder and executive vice president Alan Gottlieb saying, “We are grateful that the court has shown considerable wisdom, and this should help advance the effort to assure reasonable concealed carry for District residents. It represents one more advancement in our effort to win firearms freedom one lawsuit at a time.”

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.