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WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court may decide in its next term if citizens have a constitutional right to carry a handgun for self-defense outside the home.
Earlier this month, the court “relisted” the case, Peruta v. California, meaning the justices are still considering it
“I suspect they’re going to grant it,” John Eastman, director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence and the former law dean at Chapman University, told Fox News.
The lawsuit was filed by a California man, Edward Peruta, who challenged San Diego County Sheriff William D. Gore’s denial of concealed carry permits to applicants who did not show “good cause.” Gore does not consider self-defense to be good cause for a concealed carry permit.
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Peruta’s attorneys want the justices to overturn a U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that the Second Amendment does not grant the right to carry a gun outside the home, Off The Grid News previously reported. The Ninth Circuit ruled against Peruta in a 7-4 decision in June 2016.
“The right of a member of the general public to carry a concealed firearm in public is not, and never has been, protected by the Second Amendment,” the Ninth Circuit’s majority opinion read. “Therefore, because the Second Amendment does not protect in any degree the right to carry concealed firearms in public, any prohibition or restriction a state may choose to impose on concealed carry — including a requirement of ‘good cause,’ however defined — is necessarily allowed by the Amendment.”
Former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement challenged that ruling in January 2017, The Union Tribune reported. Second Amendment activists and gun control advocates are watching the case closely, not only because of the issue but because it could be the first major firearms decision heard by new Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch. Although Gorsuch has been a federal judge for years, he’s never ruled on a Second Amendment case.
Peruta could be the most important gun-rights case since the 2008 Heller decision, in which the Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment grants Americans the rights to keep guns in their homes, UCLA Law Professor Adam Winkler told The Los Angeles Times. Heller overturned the District of Columbia’s ban on private ownership of handguns.
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