Judge strikes down D.C. handgun law

WASHINGTON - The District of Columbia's ban on carrying handguns outside the home is unconstitutional, a federal judge has ruled. In a ruling made public Saturday, U.S. District Judge Frederick J. Scullin concluded that the Second Amendment gives people the right to carry a gun outside the home for self-defense.

The lawsuit challenging the city's ban was filed in 2009 by three city residents, a New Hampshire resident, and the Second Amendment Foundation. It came shortly after the city rewrote its gun laws following a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down the city's 32-year-old ban on handguns in 2008.

New rules allowed residents to keep guns in their homes but required that they be registered. Gun owners now have to take a safety class, be photographed and fingerprinted, and reregister their weapons every three years. Those requirements were upheld by a federal judge in May.

In his ruling, Scullin cited two U.S. Supreme Court cases, including the 2008 case that struck down the city's handgun ban and a 2010 case involving Chicago's handgun ban.

Scullin wrote that following those decisions, "there is no longer any basis on which this court can conclude that the District of Columbia's total ban on the public carrying of ready-to-use handguns outside the home is constitutional."

Alan Gura, the lawyer who represents the group challenging the ban, said Sunday he was "very pleased with the decision."

Ted Gest, a spokesman for the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, which defended the city's ban, said the city is studying the opinion and its options.