2A Northern Mariana Islands Amended Complaint Filed 22 April, 2015

The second amendment lawsuit against the Government of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands has been amended to include both JAMES C. DELEON GUERRERO, the Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety, and LARRISA LARSON, Secretary of the Department of Finance of the Commonwealth.  The amendment was required by the U.S. District Court in order to include the customs policies of the Commonwealth as part of the lawsuit.   The amendment was filed on the 22 of April, 2015.    The amended complaint may be viewed at michellawyers.com(pdf).

The time that it will take to render a decision on the complaint is uncertain, but the court has been making decisions in the case with some regularity.  I would not be surprised to see an opinion by the end of July.  The saipantribune.com summed up the case as follows:

A U.S. Navy Gulf War veteran and his Chinese wife, who suffered serious injuries during a home invasion, have filed a lawsuit in federal court to challenge the constitutionality of the CNMI Weapons Control Act that prohibits all residents from obtaining handguns for self-defense purposes.

David J. Radich and his wife, Li-Rong Radich, are suing Department of Public Safety Commissioner James C. Deleon Guerrero for violation of their right to keep and bear firearms.

The Radich couple, through counsels Daniel T. Guidotti and David G. Sigale, asked the U.S. District Court for the NMI to issue injunctions enjoining Deleon Guerrero from enforcing against them the prohibitions on virtually all CNMI residents from obtaining handguns for self-defense purposes and the probation on obtaining a Weapons Identification Card (WIC) and possessing a firearm for self-defense purposes; and for good cause requirement for obtaining a WIC.

The couple asked the court to declare that such prohibitions are null and void because they infringe on the right of the people to keep and bear arms in violation of the Second and Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Deleon Guerrero has stated that he expects to lose the case.   From mvariety.com:  

Anticipating an unfavorable ruling from the federal court, Deleon Guerrero and Zarones have asked the Legislature to act “swiftly and without hesitation” to pass an alternative gun control law that is currently pending in the Senate.

Guam, another entity under the umbrella of the U.S. Constitution in the area, has already passed a "shall issue" law because of the Peruta ruling in the Ninth Circuit.   Both Guam and the CNMI fall under the Ninth Circuit.

 ©2015 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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