D.C. Right to Carry Case is Blocked in the Court

Washington, D.C. is the only place in the country where no one is allowed to legally carry a gun outside the home. 

District residents are trying to challenge the law in court, but the justice system has denied them due process. The almost five-year delay in Palmer v. District of Columbia is so extreme that some suspect political games. 

In August 2009, Tom Palmer and three other D.C. residents filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court that said the total ban on carrying firearms -- open or concealed -- violated their Second Amendment rights.

On Tuesday, Alan Gura, the attorney for the Palmer case, filed a second writ of mandamus with the U.S. Court of Appeals asking it to force the lower court to issue a decision. 

He will not speculate on the reason for the long wait, but says this is not normal. 

"Delays of this nature are very uncommon -- especially when you have a case where people are claiming that their fundamental civil rights are being violated," the attorney said in an interview with Fox 5 on Friday.

Gura was also Dick Heller’s attorney in the 2008 landmark Supreme Court case that overturned the District’s 30-year total ban on handguns. After the Heller decision, D.C. technically abided by that ruling by establishing a complicated firearms registration system.

In addition, the city passed a law in 2009 that prohibited open and concealed carry of firearms, which prompted the Palmer lawsuit.

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