The Second Amendment protects the right to buy and sell firearms, as well as the right to keep and bear them, a federal appeals court ruled on Monday.
In doing so, the San Francisco-based Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals revived a lawsuit filed by three business partners who had planned to open a gun store in Alameda County, Calif., but were denied a zoning permit.
“If ‘the right of the people to keep and bear arms’ is to have any force, the people must have a right to acquire the very firearms they are entitled to keep and to bear,” wrote Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain for the 2-1 majority, quoting the Second Amendment. “One cannot truly enjoy a constitutionally protected right when the state is permitted to snuff out the means by which he exercises it.”
The ruling by the Ninth Circuit builds on previous decisions by federal appeals judges recognizing the right to buy ammunition and to train at firing ranges as protected by the Second Amendment.
Judge O’Scannlain, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, was joined in his decision by Judge Carlos T. Bea, an appointee of President George W. Bush.
In doing so, the San Francisco-based Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals revived a lawsuit filed by three business partners who had planned to open a gun store in Alameda County, Calif., but were denied a zoning permit.
“If ‘the right of the people to keep and bear arms’ is to have any force, the people must have a right to acquire the very firearms they are entitled to keep and to bear,” wrote Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain for the 2-1 majority, quoting the Second Amendment. “One cannot truly enjoy a constitutionally protected right when the state is permitted to snuff out the means by which he exercises it.”
The ruling by the Ninth Circuit builds on previous decisions by federal appeals judges recognizing the right to buy ammunition and to train at firing ranges as protected by the Second Amendment.
Judge O’Scannlain, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, was joined in his decision by Judge Carlos T. Bea, an appointee of President George W. Bush.
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