D.C. Has "Permitless" Carry for an Unknown Time

Alan Gura reports that the District Court, after nearly five years of stonewalling, has found for the Constitutional right to bear arms outside of the home.  It has struck down the prohibitions on carry outside of the home in the District of Columbia, for both residents and non-residents.   It took five years and two petitions for a writ of mandamus to obtain this decision.  The wording below is from the decision.   From alangura.com:

In light of Heller, McDonald, and their progeny, there is no longer any basis on which this Court can conclude that the District of Columbia’s total ban on the public carrying of ready-to-use handguns outside the home is constitutional under any level of scrutiny. Therefore, the Court finds that the District of Columbia’s complete ban on the carrying of handguns in public is unconstitutional. Accordingly, the Court grants Plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment and enjoins Defendants from enforcing the home limitations of D.C. Code § 7-2502.02(a)(4) and enforcing D.C. Code § 22-4504(a) unless and until such time as the District of Columbia adopts a licensing mechanism consistent with constitutional standards enabling people to exercise their Second Amendment right to bear arms.4 Furthermore, this injunction prohibits the District from completely banning the carrying of handguns in public for self-defense by otherwise qualified non-residents based solely on the fact that they are not residents of the District.

No doubt the D.C. government  will work quickly to place some restrictions on carry outside of the home.   But today is Saturday, the 26th of July.  I refuse to beleive that they will be able to enact an ordinance or obtain a stay from the appeals court before Monday.   For some period of time, it will be legal to carry a firearm outside of your home in D.C. without a permit to carry.

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