by McIntosh | January 20, 2017 2:02 am
Judge Diane Sykes, one of the people on President-elect Donald Trump’s list to succeed Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court bench, recently wrote a critical decision[1] in defense of the Second Amendment.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit handed down a big, pro-Second Amendment decision that hit back against onerous regulations imposed on gun rights in the city of Chicago, via a majority opinion in the Ezell v. Chicago case on Wednesday.
Reason reported[3] on the issue, saying “The underlying issue in Ezell v. Chicago is the Windy City’s hostile reaction to the Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling in McDonald v. Chicago, in which the Court struck down the city’s handgun ban for violating the Second Amendment. In response to McDonald, Chicago enacted a new handgun permitting scheme which, among other things, required permit holders to complete one hour of training at a gun range. Yet Chicago also outlawed the existence of all gun ranges within city limits, thereby placing a rather significant obstacle in the path of any Chicago resident seeking to exercise his or her constitutional rights. In 2011 that city-wide gun range ban was struck down by the 7th Circuit. Judge Sykes also wrote that decision.”
Five years ago after losing in federal court, Chicago adopted another fresh regulatory scheme for gun ranges. Yet once again the city tried to choke out the Second Amendment with more policy red tape. It imposed nonsensical new zoning regulations that would only allow gun ranges within manufacturing districts, while also outlawing gun ranges from being built within 100 feet of each other and within 500 feet of residential districts, schools and even places of worship. They even drew up a law that barred anyone 18 or younger from lawfully entering a gun range.
According to her opinion, and on behalf of the majority, Judge Sykes shot down these unconstitutional restrictions and elaborated that under the new zoning laws, “Only 2.2% of the city’s total acreage is even theoretically available, and the commercial viability of any of these parcels is questionable—so much so that no shooting range yet exists. This severely limits Chicagoans’ Second Amendment right to maintain proficiency in firearm use via target practice at a range. To justify these barriers, the City raised only speculative claims of harm to public health and safety. That’s not nearly enough to survive the heightened scrutiny that applies to burdens on Second Amendment rights.”
Source URL: https://rightwingnews.com/constitution/boom-judge-trumps-scotus-list-issues-major-2nd-amendment-ruling/
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