A federal appeals court has denied a request by the District of Columbia to rehear the case that struck down D.C.’s “one-gun-a-month” scheme.
The District had appealed to have the case reheard by the full U.S. Court of Appeals after losing an earlier 2-1 decision. In rejecting D.C.’s appeal to be heard before the full court, Judge Patricia A. Millett wrote that the city “had a full opportunity to develop a record and come forward … with evidence to substantiate the difficult policy judgments that it presses on rehearing, and to do so to the degree necessary to survive the intermediate scrutiny that our precedent requires.” She concluded that “the District failed that task.”
Court watchers will note that D.C.’s scheme failed to meet even the lesser standard of “intermediate scrutiny” for government regulation, let alone the more stringent “strict scrutiny” requirement. However, other barriers to firearm freedoms for D.C. residents will remain in effect.
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