With the 9th Circuit ruling in Peruta, Guam, Hawaii, and the Northern Mariana Islands can no longer sustain heavy restrictions on the ownership and carry of handguns. Guam has already reformed its law. Hawaii now has a ruling against it and is waiting to see what happens with the Peruta decision. Now the Northern Mariana Islands have had a lawsuit filed against them to repeal the total ban there on the ownership and carry of handguns. It’s hard to see how such a ban can stand, given the decisions in Heller, McDonald, and Peruta . . .
The lawsuit has been filed by two residents, Li-Rong Radich and David Radich and is supported by the Second Amendment Foundation, the NRA Civil Rights Legal Defense Fund and Hawaii Defense Foundation.
“The Second Amendment does not just apply to the continental United States and Hawaii,” noted SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “It also applies to territories under U.S. jurisdiction. The issue is a fundamental civil right, not only to possess a handgun, but also to use firearms for self-defense purposes, which is currently banned in the Northern Marianas.”
The territories administered by the United States should be included in any national reciprocity scheme for the carry of handguns.
©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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