Sometimes, lower courts don't want to obey Supreme Court rulings. That's what happened in 2000 in the Bush v. Gore case, where the SCOTUS had to smack around the Florida Supreme Court for disobeying its ruling.
Now, Dick Heller is suing Washington D.C. again because it wants to violate your Second Amendment rights.
Dick Heller and two other plaintiffs argue that the city's regulations are "highly unusual and unreasonable" in the complaint filed in U.S. District Court.
The lawsuit claims the District of Columbia continues to violate the intent of the Supreme Court's June 26 decision by prohibiting the ownership of most semiautomatic weapons, requiring an "arbitrary" fee to register a firearm and establishing rules that make it all but impossible for residents to keep a gun in the home for immediate self-defense.
The D.C. Council was immediately criticized by gun rights advocates when it unanimously passed emergency gun legislation July 15. The law will remain in effect for 90 days, and the council expects to begin work in September on permanent legislation.
The regulations maintain the city's ban of machine guns, defined in the law as weapons that shoot more than 12 rounds without reloading. That definition applies to most semiautomatic firearms.
Handguns, as well as other legal firearms such as rifles and shotguns, also must be kept unloaded and disassembled, or equipped with trigger locks in the home unless there is a "reasonably perceived threat of immediate harm."
"A robber basically has to make an appointment" for a resident to be able to prepare the weapon for use, Heller's attorney, Stephen Halbrook, said Monday. Halbrook also called the city's definition of machine guns "bizarre."
Here's a picture of a semi-automatic weapon under the D.C. definition.
Essentially, the D.C. city council doesn't believe you have a right to own and operate a gun. So, they're going to make us play the game of going back to court over and over again to spank them.
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