A Federal Judge's Satirical Opinion Highlights Disrespect for the Second AmendmentAfter more than a decade of subversion, the Supreme Court has a chance to rectify this situation.
Jacob Sullum
January 26, 2022
In one opinion published last week, 9th Circuit Judge Lawrence VanDyke said Ventura County, California, violated the Second Amendment when it shut down gun stores early in the COVID-19 pandemic. In another opinion the same day, VanDyke said the county's policy was perfectly consistent with the constitutional right to keep and bear arms.
That second, tongue-in-cheek opinion was meant to illustrate the disrespect that the 9th Circuit and other federal appeals courts have shown for the Second Amendment since 2008, when the Supreme Court explicitly recognized that the provision guarantees an individual right to armed self-defense. The Court may finally rectify that situation this term when it rules on the constitutionality of a New York law that gives local authorities wide discretion to decide who may carry guns in public.
For 48 days in 2020, Ventura County effectively prohibited the purchase of firearms or ammunition by ordering the closure of gun dealers, along with other businesses it deemed "nonessential." It also barred people who already owned firearms from visiting gun ranges to hone their skills or complete the training required to obtain carry permits.
The county did all that in the name of controlling COVID-19, although it simultaneously allowed many other activities that posed similar or greater risks of virus transmission. While other retailers continued to operate, gun sales were prohibited, even by appointment or through curbside service; while outdoor activities such as biking and golfing were allowed, practice at outdoor gun ranges was banned.
Given such arbitrary distinctions, VanDyke concluded in the majority opinion for a three-judge panel, Ventura County's policy plainly did not pass muster under "strict scrutiny," which requires that a law be "narrowly tailored" to further a "compelling government interest." Nor could the policy survive the less demanding "intermediate scrutiny," which requires a "reasonable fit" between a law and an "important" or "substantial" government goal.
The two other panel members agreed with VanDyke that Ventura County's suspension of Second Amendment rights was unconstitutional. But VanDyke predicted that most of his colleagues on the 9th Circuit would reach a different conclusion after agreeing to review the decision.
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Source:
https://reason.com/2022/01/26/a-federal-judges-satirical-opinion-highlights-disrespect-for-the-second-amendment/