Judge rules that Rhode Island's gun permit system does not violate Second Amendment
In a ruling handed down Friday, U.S. District Judge William Smith granted Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha's motion for summary judgment that dismisses a lawsuit filed by a coalition of gun owners in 2023.
The lawsuit stems from a Rhode Island law dictating how the state issues firearms permits.
According to the statute, local officials are required to issue concealed-carry permits to anyone who meets the specific criteria outlined in the statute. However, it also allows the attorney general's office to issue open-carry permits 'upon a proper showing of need.' Unlike municipalities, the attorney general is not required to issue such permits.
The plaintiffs, largely led by Michael O'Neil, a lobbyist for the Rhode Island 2nd Amendment Coalition and a firearm instructor, said in their initial complaint that the attorney general's office denied all seven of their applications in 2021 for an 'unrestricted' firearm permit, allowing both open and concealed carry. Court documents show that the attorney general's office denied their permits because all of them had been granted 'restricted' permits, which only allowed concealed carry.
Smith said in his ruling that unrestricted permits 'are a privilege and there is no constitutionally protected liberty interest in obtaining one.'
The plaintiffs had hoped for a similar ruling handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022, where the justices struck down a New York state law that had restricted who could obtain a permit to carry a gun in public.
Similar to Rhode Island, New York's law had required residents to show an actual need to carry a concealed handgun in public for self-defense.
Yet, notably, Smith said in his ruling that the high court's 2022 ruling did not declare that the Second Amendment 'requires open carry,' but even if it did, Rhode Island's law 'is within the Nation's historical tradition of regulation.'
Frank Saccoccio, the attorney representing the gun owners, said in an email Monday that they did not believe Smith's decision was in line with the 2022 SCOTUS decision and would be appealing.
An email seeking comment from the attorney general was sent on Monday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump demands homeless people 'immediately' move out of Washington DC
US President Donald Trump has said homeless people must "move out" of Washington DC as he vowed to tackle crime in the city, but the mayor pushed back against the White House likening the capital to Baghdad. "We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital," he posted on Sunday. The Republican president also trailed a news conference for Monday about his plan to make the city "safer and more beautiful than it ever was before". Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, said: "We are not experiencing a crime spike." Trump signed an order last month making it easier to arrest homeless people, and he last week ordered federal law enforcement into the streets of Washington DC. "The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY," Trump wrote on his social media site Truth Social on Sunday. "We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital. The Criminals, you don't have to move out. We're going to put you in jail where you belong." Alongside photos of tents and rubbish, he added: "There will be no 'MR. NICE GUY.' We want our Capital BACK. Thank you for your attention to this matter!" The specifics of the president's plan are not yet clear, but in a 2022 speech he proposed moving homeless people to "high quality" tents on inexpensive land outside cities, while providing access to bathrooms and medical professionals. On Friday, Trump ordered federal agents - including from US Park Police, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI and the US Marshals Service - into Washington DC to curb what he called "totally out of control" levels of crime. A White House official told National Public Radio that up to 450 federal officers were deployed on Saturday night. The move comes after a 19-year-old former employee of the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) was assaulted in an alleged attempted carjacking in Washington DC. Trump vented about that incident on social media, posting a photo of the bloodied victim. Mayor Bowser told MSNBC on Sunday: "It is true that we had a terrible spike in crime in 2023, but this is not 2023. "We have spent over the last two years driving down violent crime in this city, driving it down to a 30-year low." She criticised White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller for dubbing the US capital "more violent than Baghdad". "Any comparison to a war-torn country is hyperbolic and false," Bowser said. Washington DC's homicide rate remains relatively high per capita compared to other US cities, with a total of 98 such killings recorded so far this year. Homicides have been trending higher in the US capital from a decade ago. But federal data from January suggests that Washington DC last year recorded its lowest overall violent crime figures - once carjacking, assault and robberies are incorporated - in 30 years. Trump has said there will be a news conference at the White House on Monday to outline their plans to stop violent crime in the US capital. In another post on Sunday he said the event at 10:00 EDT (14:00 GMT) would address ending "crime, murder and death" in the city, as well as its "physical renovation". He described Bowser as "a good person who has tried", adding that despite her efforts crime continues to get "worse" and the city becomes "dirtier and less attractive". Community Partnership, an organisation that works to reduce homelessness in Washington DC, told Reuters news agency that the city of 700,000 residents had about 3,782 people homeless on any given night. Most were in public housing or emergency shelters, but about 800 were considered "on the street". As a district, rather than a state, Washington DC is overseen by the federal government, which has the power to override some local laws. The president controls federal land and buildings in the city, although he would need Congress to assume federal control of the district. In recent days, he has threatened to take over the Washington DC Metropolitan Police Department, which Bowser argued was not possible. "There are very specific things in our law that would allow the president to have more control over our police department," Bowser said. "None of those conditions exist in our city right now." Teenager arrested after three shot in New York City's Times Square Solve the daily Crossword
New York Times
39 minutes ago
- New York Times
Will Judges Approve Trump's Choice for U.S. Attorney in Manhattan?
The former Russian diplomat faced several charges, including money laundering, that could have landed him behind bars for a long time. But in June, shortly before his trial, the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office accepted a guilty plea from the man to only one charge, which might let him avoid prison altogether. The judge, Jed S. Rakoff, said he was curious: Was the office's change in position discussed with or initiated by the Justice Department in Washington? 'No, your honor,' a prosecutor replied. 'OK,' Judge Rakoff said. 'I wanted to make sure we didn't have an Adams situation here.' The judge was referring to the resignation in February of the head of the U.S. attorney's office after she refused a Trump Justice Department edict to seek the dismissal of charges against New York's mayor, Eric Adams. The department then orchestrated the dismissal anyway. The former diplomat's guilty plea proceeded as planned, but the courtroom exchange was revealing. It showed that judges still have lingering concerns about the independence and authority of the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of New York, now led on an interim basis by Jay Clayton, President Trump's pick to be the top prosecutor. The issue is expected to crystallize later this month when the roughly four dozen judges of the Southern District court, based in Manhattan, are to vote on whether to appoint Mr. Clayton to remain in the post. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
News24
40 minutes ago
- News24
European leaders demand US-Russia peace talks ‘cannot be decided without Ukraine'
European leaders want Ukraine to be included in US and Russian talks. Ukraine's main backers are Germany, Britain and France. Russian and US presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will meet in of Alaska. European leaders on Sunday pushed for Ukraine to be a part of negotiations between the United States and Russia, ahead of talks between presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. The two leaders will meet in the US state of Alaska on Friday to try to resolve the three-year war, but the European Union has insisted that Kyiv and European powers should be part of any deal to end the conflict. The idea of a US-Russia meeting without Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has raised concerns that a deal would require Kyiv to cede swaths of territory, which the EU has rejected. EU foreign ministers will discuss the talks in a meeting by video link on Monday, joined by their Ukrainian counterpart. 'The path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine,' leaders from France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Britain and Finland and EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said in a joint statement, urging Trump to put more pressure on Russia. In a flurry of diplomacy, Zelensky held calls with 13 counterparts over three days including Kyiv's main backers Germany, Britain and France. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Sunday he hoped and assumed that Zelensky would attend the leaders' summit. AFP Leaders of the Nordic and Baltic countries - Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden - also said no decisions should be taken without Kyiv's involvement. Talks on ending the war could only take place during a ceasefire, they added in a joint statement. Asked on CNN on Sunday if Zelensky could be present, US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker responded: 'Yes, I certainly think it's possible.' 'Certainly, there can't be a deal that everybody that's involved in it doesn't agree to. And, I mean, obviously, it's a high priority to get this war to end.' Whitaker said the decision would ultimately be Trump's to make, and there was no word Sunday from the White House. Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images Top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas said any deal between the US and Russia to end the war in Ukraine had to include Kyiv and the bloc. 'President Trump is right that Russia has to end its war against Ukraine,' Kallas said in a statement on Sunday. 'The US has the power to force Russia to negotiate seriously. Any deal between the US and Russia must have Ukraine and the EU included, for it is a matter of Ukraine's and the whole of Europe's security,' she added. 'I will convene an extraordinary meeting of the EU foreign ministers on Monday to discuss our next steps.' Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga will also take part in the Monday afternoon meeting, the ministry chief Mark Rutte told ABC's This Week broadcast on Sunday that Trump was 'putting pressure on Putin'. 'Next Friday will be important because it will be about testing Putin, how serious he is on bringing this terrible war to an end,' he added. Ukraine's military said on Sunday it had taken back a village in the Sumy region from the Russian army, which has made significant recent gains. The village is on the frontline in the north of the country and about 20km west of the main fighting between the two armies in the northern region. As a prerequisite to any peace settlement, Moscow has demanded Kyiv pull its forces out of the regions and commit to being a neutral state, shun US and EU military support and be excluded from joining said it would never recognise Russian control over its sovereign territory, though it acknowledged that getting land captured by Russia back would have to come through diplomacy, not on the battlefield. The EU's Kallas backed Kyiv's position on Sunday. 'As we work toward a sustainable and just peace, international law is clear: All temporarily occupied territories belong to Ukraine,' the EU foreign policy chief said. NATO's Rutte said it was a reality that 'Russia is controlling some of Ukrainian territory' and suggested a future deal could acknowledge this. 'When it comes to acknowledging, for example, maybe in a future deal, that Russia is controlling, de facto, factually, some of the territory of Ukraine. It has to be effectual recognition and not a political de jure recognition,' Rutte told ABC. Zelensky thanked those countries backing Ukraine's position in his Sunday evening address. 'The war must be ended as soon as possible with a fair peace,' he said. 'A fair peace is needed. 'Clear support for the fact that everything concerning Ukraine must be decided with Ukraine's participation. Just as it should be with every other independent state.'
