Virginia judge issues injunction stopping Northam's closure of indoor gun ranges

[Right_in_Virginia]

Virginia judge issues injunction stopping Northam's closure of indoor gun ranges
Washington Examiner, Apr 27, 2020

A Virginia circuit court judge in Lynchburg dealt a legal blow to Gov. Ralph Northam by rejecting an executive order that closed indoor gun ranges during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The governor's March order had deemed the ranges “places of amusement” and, therefore, nonessential businesses that must shutter under the state's stay-at-home order. However, Judge F. Patrick Yeatts issued a temporary injunction overturning part of the order on Monday and allowing indoor gun ranges to reopen.

SafeSide Lynchburg, is the indoor range that filed the lawsuit in conjunction with the Virginia Citizens Defense League, Gun Owners of America, and the Association of Virginia Gun Ranges earlier this month.

Although the governor attempted to argue that outdoor ranges were an alternative, Yeatts countered, “the Court rules that the right to keep and bear arms is not relegated to the outskirts of the city and of fundamental rights jurisprudence.”

The judge’s order explained that the governor more than likely exceeded his constitutional powers when he shuttered indoor gun ranges as part of his emergency, statewide shutdown orders. Yeatts notes that the Virginia constitution’s right to bear arms includes training with firearms.

“The body of the people, trained to arms is the proper, natural safe defense of a free state,” the commonwealth’s constitution declares.

“Levels of scrutiny favorable to the Governor in the present case contradict [the statute] … that the governor cannot ‘in any way limit or prohibit the rights of the people to keep and bear arms,’” Yeatts wrote.

He continued, “Having found that indoor gun ranges are protected by the statute, the court cannot uphold executive orders that limit or prohibit indoor gun ranges. The Court assumes executive orders regulating all businesses would not violate the statute, but the Order targets indoor gun ranges by lumping them in with the closure of recreational businesses.”



https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/virginia-judge-issues-injunction-stopping-northams-closure-of-indoor-gun-ranges