Witness for Judge Barrett Authored One of the Most Extreme Decisions on Carrying Firearms in Public
10.14.2020
Now that the Senate Judiciary Committee has made public the list of validators for Judge Amy Coney Barrett, we wanted to highlight the inclusion of Judge Thomas Griffith, who authored one of the most extreme decisions of any judge to date on carrying firearms in public.
Judge Griffith authored the D.C. Circuit’s opinion in Wrenn v. District of Columbia, which struck down a gun safety law regulating the carrying of firearms in public. Judge Griffith’s decision, which did not take into account the public safety effects of striking the law down, is the only one to strike down the type of law at issue, which requires individuals to demonstrate “good cause” in order to obtain a permit to carry a concealed weapon in public. It stands in sharp contrast to decisions of the First, Second, Third, Fourth and Ninth Circuits, which upheld similar laws in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Maryland and California.
35 states require a permit to carry a loaded, concealed handgun in public, a policy the gun lobby has tried to undermine through lawsuits like Wrenn v. D.C. challenging good-cause public carry requirements.
Calling Judge Griffith as a witness is yet another signal of Judge Barrett’s extreme and dangerous views on guns. As a reminder, below are four things to keep in mind when Judge Barrett discusses the Second Amendment:
- Judge Barrett’s interpretation of the Second Amendment is far outside the judicial mainstream, and it’s dangerous –– putting nearly every gun law at risk.
- Federal appeals courts have upheld almost every gun safety law that the NRA and other gun extremists have challenged since the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller.
- As the gun safety movement makes historic progress in statehouses and at the ballot box, the gun lobby is trying to use the courts to gut life-saving gun laws.
- More than 100 Americans die every day by guns, and two hundred more are wounded. If the gun lobby succeeds in gutting evidence-based public safety laws, this crisis will get even worse.
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