Appeals court rejects District’s request to revisit D.C. gun-control case
By Ann E. Marimow February 26 at 12:11 PM
A federal appeals court announced Friday that it will not revisit some of the District’s strict gun registration requirements that it struck down last fall.
A majority of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit voted against rehearing the case as a full panel. The decision upholds an earlier three-judge ruling that knocked down the city’s one-gun-per-month law, while upholding the government’s authority to issue gun regulations that promote public safety.
In denying the city’s request, Judge Patricia A. Millett — who has been mentioned as a potential nominee to replace Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia — sought to clarify her vote on a controversial topic. Millett wrote that the city had failed to fully show in court how some of its registration requirements — particularly a 15-question test on local gun laws — were sufficiently related to the government’s interest in promoting public safety. “The District failed that task,” Millett wrote in a brief statement attached to the court’s order.
