Emily Miller is the famous investigative reporter who wrote the Washington Times series “Emily Gets Her Gun” detailing the torturous process of getting permit to legally own a firearm in the District of Columbia. The series led to her successful book of the same name. An autographed copy sits near my elbow. I met Emily a couple of years ago at a gun rights policy conference. She’s a sharp woman, intimately familiar with the insanity of D.C.’s gun laws, who has the distinction of owning a legally registered handgun in the nation’s capital . . .
In the wake of yesterday’s Palmer decision invalidating the District’s ban on carrying firearms, she tweeted:
Stay tuned- I’m writing a story with the details on the
#Palmer decision — and how DC will be forced to allow gun carry rights.
What I find fascinating is that Emily is in an ideal position to actually exercise her newly affirmed Second Amendment rights in the District of Columbia. Today. She has always wanted to be able to carry her handgun, a SIG SAUER P229, if only with the 10-round magazines the District allows. Now, though, she may legally do so.
But she may only have a short window of opportunity, as it’s possible that the District’s attorneys will be able to convince an appeals court judge to issue a stay against the District Court’s decision. But that may take some time. After all, today is Sunday, the House of Representatives just voted to defund any gun law enforcement by the D.C. government, and two fairly high profile cases have been brought against obviously law abiding citizens with the very laws in question. All this, not to mention the settled law of the Heller and McDonald decisions, would seem to argue against any kind of “emergency” stay.
The summary judgment by the court doesn’t differentiate between open and concealed carry. So Emily could commemorate her celebration of freedom for men and women everywhere with a picture of her openly carrying her SIG with a recognizable D.C. landmark in the background.
I wish Emily the best. She’s a real trooper. And I would love to see that photograph!
Good points, but I’ll bet the average police officer on the streets is unaware, at least officially, of the ruling. If that is the case, carrying today in our nation’s capital might still result in a whole lot of hassle, even if it eventually gets resolved. I’m sure there are those who would do it anyway, but I think most folks are going to wait and see how it pans out before risking a very unpleasant encounter with law enforcement.
+1
If they catch you they will arrest you with a “go ahead sue me. ” The charges will get tossed but you will spend the night in jail and you will never get your gun back.
Now, if you carry on the Mall or Rock Creek Park then you are in a National Park and Federal laws says you can carry in a National Park according to the laws of the state. Since at the moment DC has constitutional carry you are good to go. You just have to stay out of the Museums.
The Park Police have certainly been on the legal status at the shift change so they leave you alone.
The correction function didn’t corrrect. Should read “… briefed at the shift change…”
I overheard a conversation with a cop and the owner of a local gun store here in CT. CT law, oddly, makes no distinction between open and concealed carry, at least in theory – if you have you Pistol Permit, you can carry either way. In practice the cops would try to charge open carriers with disturbing the peace or some such.
Anyway, apparently this practice has become problematic, and that for the State Police at least, troopers have been informed to stop arresting Permit holders for OCing, since the Staties are tired of getting sued, and can’t afford it any more.
There are letters including one from the Torrington PD that have been floating around for over two years that are archived on various CT gun forums. There is also the incident in West Haven last year that was also thrown out. The know the law, its been talked about plenty, if you are arrested for OC it only the PD showing they are in charge, it will be thrown out. Eventually enough people will sue and enough money will be coughed up and they will stop the BS.
Yeah – there was a case where the Glastonbury bureaucrats with guns arrested some guy who inadvertently flashed his, I think, Glock at a local BK. The Superior Court judge told them to give it back. Anyway, what it means for us in here occupied CT, at least for now, is that you do not have to get so worked up over flashing. Of course, it really depends on the community. I walked into a packie in Manchester and there was a guy OC’ing with what looked like a Kahr; no one was running. In fact, after the guy left, the staff was all talking about how awesome guns are and that you could shoot them of during fireworks season and no one would be the wiser.
However, if you were, say, strolling through Blue Black square and accidentally print say good bye to your dog .
It is hard to express just how oppressive it is to live in CT. Sometimes, I feel I can’t even breath. Please, guys, don’t give up on us.
Some Ohio officers and chief’s talked a big game about arresting for disorderly conduct, inciting panic, or brandishing. They found out quickly that those charges wouldn’t fly. It seems like there is this evolution in law enforcement’s acceptance of OC and that is one of the stages. (Or maybe “denial” in the Stages of Grief… IDK)
Policemen don’t know the law? Where do I keep hearing that ignorance of the law is not a excuse?
Well maybe it is since there are so many laws. That is the argument in the following link.
http://www.copblock.org/12341/actually-yes-ignorance-of-the-law-is-an-excuse/
With 104 homicides in 2013 in DC, many of the homicides could have had a better outcome if the victim had been legally carrying. I that sense to rule against legal carry would be an act that results in harm and deaths.
I hope Emily poses with the Capitol in the background.
I have Emily’s book, and managed to read all of it, painful as it was… Why anyone would want to go through all that is beyond my comprehension, but I honor her for doing so and for telling the full, mind numbing story of the bureaucratic insanity that went along with it.
Will she be able to carry now? Probably not. Changing the “law” is a beginning, of course, but I don’t think anything will soon change the mind set of most of the people there, especially the cops. Each time someone saw her gun or even suspected she had it, she would be stoped, frisked, possibly proned out, probably arrested and perhaps even risk being injured or killed. Going to court to have the charge dismissed would be the least of her worries, but it would cost her in time and money anyway. After all the years of indoctrination, It will be a long time before the people of Washington D.C. are ready and willing to accept armed individuals, .
I urged her to leave D.C. several times, but she seems truly to want to engage in this fight. More power to her, naturally.
I wonder if anyone ever asked Rosa Parks why she wanted to sit in the front of the bus so badly….
She probably sat in the front of the bus because she didn’t want to get mugged!
Why didn’t Emily get her name on a suit? Cute female as plaintiff would make for a GREAT photo-op..
Yes, I know her! (Not personally.) Through her is how I discovered all the retardation in DC….. and I don’t mean the politicians.
To clarify that: I was thinking of visiting a someone I knew in DC, so I was researching DC gun laws, and she was the one that clarified the long retarded process (and retarded limitations) for me. I decided afterwards that I didn’t want to visit any place that didn’t allow me to carry a gun.
Tons of crime +No carrying guns + tons of politicians = too much retardation in one place.
That would be outstanding!
On my last trip to DC I vowed never to return unarmed. Essentially, I thought it was my final farewell to our nation’s Capitol. It’s a nice to think that I’ll one day be able to return and carry as a free individual should.
Washington DC has long been affirmation of the concept that an increase in government results in decreased freedom for the lowly taxpayer. Of course the ruling elites and the politically connected can bypass the bureaucracies they create because they are so “important.” And by important I mean passing useless laws, restricting freedom, making speeches, and wasting taxpayer money.
I wish Emily the best and will put money towards her legal struggles if she were to need it in the future. I also re-post TTAG articles to a couple hundred Facebook friends. Although I haven’t read her book, it is common knowledge that obtaining a concealed carry permit in statist enclaves like NYC, DC, and CA range from extremely difficult to impossible. Sorry, your police chief who “knows” you doesn’t deem you to be an appropriate candidate for a CCW permit. Maybe next time by the chief a gift, throw him a party, or otherwise make a financial contribution. Have a nice day. It’s either that or slog you way through a mountain of paperwork and forms.
Where’s Adam Kokesh?! He’d do it! 😀
He’s in jail for doing it, ironically.
Edit: So apparently he is not in jail right now. He is being sentenced in September.
Not exactly correct. He plead guilty to the weapons charge in D.C. and was sentenced to two years of probation. His September sentencing is for charges filed in connection with a SWAT team raid at his home in Virginia intended to recover the shotgun used in the July 4, 2013 protest in D.C. as well as raw footage of that incident. Also found were psilocybin mushrooms, and he was therefore charged with a felony drug crime and an associated felony gun crime in connection with the possession of the mushrooms, crimes to which he entered an “Alford” plea and was convicted. He awaits sentencing.
I wonder if this actually affects Kokesh’s situation…I would hope so. It seems stupid to convict him for something that is now legal.
And yes, I think all of DC’s (well, everywhere, really) restrictions on firearms rights (and many other restrictions in place) are unconstitutional
If a group of 100 or more activists open carried and were arrested would they then be able to file a 1983 civil rights
suit for deprivation of rights under color of law?
Yep; right now would be the perfect time for an open/concealed-carry march at the Mall.
Indeed.
Indeed. Gather up a few thousand folks, Ms. Miller and the folks at the Washington Examiner to document, march on the mall…
Ahhhhhh 🙂
You folks need to read the decision, especially involving Edward Raymond.
As of this second, only DC registered gun owners can carry in DC. Only residents of DC, up until the injunction, was granted registration certificates. So you Virginians who want to start OCing on the national mall had better rethink that. It’ll take you about a month to get the registration done.
So for right now, only the lawful DC gun owning residents can do OCing. You gotta let them do it.
I think you need to read this:
DC Police Chief Lanier just told force not to arrest a person who can legally carry a gun in DC or ANY STATE.*
*Caps. and italics added for emphasis.
This is true. Just because the Chief says there will be no arrests does not mean it’s legal to do so.
I wonder which will come first, Emily’s new holster, or they emergency stay pending appeal?
You can bet that someone was burning the midnight oil this weekend to produce the application for stay pending appeal, which I’d say will likely be filed Monday. If they don’t, of course the city streets will be running red with blood. To the extent they aren’t already.
” If they don’t, of course the city streets will be running red with blood. To the extent they aren’t already.”
Good sarcasm.
Stays are typically granted when the requesting party is judged as having a reasonable chance to prevail in court. Given the recent case law judges may deem that DC had no chance to have the decision reversed and deny a stay to force them to enact the appropriate remendy.
“So Emily could commemorate her celebration of freedom for men and women everywhere with a picture of her openly carrying her SIG with a recognizable D.C. landmark in the background.”
I would say take a picture in front of the White House grounds…… but that would probably cause a Secret Service agent to spit out their coffee out of surprise and pump her full of bullets.
“I would say take a picture in front of the White House grounds…… but that would probably cause a Secret Service agent to spit out their coffee out of surprise and pump her full of bullets.”
Especially if she decides to walk her dog at the same time…
Lincoln or Jefferson memorial as a backdrop (Washington Obelisk won’t fit in the picture unless she’s standing quite some ways away).
I think the real question is that if Emily Miller and Robert Farago ever meet again. If Farago will creep her out again.
There are something like 25 different LE agencies operating withing the District of Columbia. I wouldn’t want to push my luck literally hours after a court decision. With luck she will run into some of the surly bruts among them. Surly enough to shoot and kill Ms. Miller. And they WILL GET AWAY WITH IT.
Virtually all of them are Federal and they do not enforce local laws. Federal LEOs are pretty much robots. They will all be informed that the DC carry prohibitions are no longer valid at the shift change. It is the DC cops who will be told to ignore the court at least until a decision on the stay is reached.
Ms. Miller should carry after announcing her intention to do so. Then, if the DC Volpos decide to arrest her, it will only burnish her reputation and permanently diminish the power of the almighty state.
A right unexercised is a right lost. If people are arrested for violating a law that was declared unconstitutional they would have grounds to sue for wrongful as well as 1983 civil suits. That said it may be prudent to wait and see if a stay is granted before carrying and if a stay is granted then carrying will be illegal unless a ruling at the next court affirms the ruling.
Was listening to an interview of Joh Lott an hour ago.
His opinion is that people can constitutionally carry right now in D.C.
Take that! mda
Well – I got’s a T3 JD and agree with you; however, that will not stop some jerk-off mouth breathting “LEO” shoot’n her. If we are to do this, it has to be ALL OF US. Assuming Ms. Miller follows TTAG – RFG can give us a heads up and all of us, THE LAST OF US, can show up, ready to all go down together.
Seriously, I know you guys in non-slave states can sort of ignore what is going on in the NE, but, man, the battle is coming. It is really, really, bad.
I think the key here is going to be the patchwork nature of DC. The District is not all DC. Much of it is federal land/buildings with Federal law similar to the post office prohibition. This is super exciting though.
Matt Corrigan(with a whole chapter about me in Emily’s book)
Matt: What happened with your lawsuit against DC? Tried searching on the internet, but all I found was the initial suit submission, and Emily Miller’s original story about the cluster you got caught up in.
I’m a bit older than you (my war was Vietnam), but spent my last military years in the Virginia Guard before retiring. Hope things are okay for you now, and glad that you moved to Virginia (which, so far, at least, hasn’t done anything quite as stupid).
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