Judge Nixes New Gun Regulations in State Parks as Unconstitutional

OFF THE WIRE
By Tom McParland 
Judge Nixes New Gun Regulations in State Parks as Unconstitutional

DELAWARE- article 

https://www.law.com/delawarelawweekly/2018/10/11/judge-nixes-new-gun-regulations-in-state-parks-as-unconstitutional/?slreturn=20180911195944 

Judge Nixes New Gun Regulations in State Parks as Unconstitutional 

A Delaware Superior Court judge on Thursday ruled that new regulations banning the open carry of firearms in lodges and camping areas of state parks and forests were unconstitutional in light of a state Supreme Court decision last year that struck a blanket prohibition against possessing guns on state lands.

A Delaware Superior Court judge on Thursday ruled that new regulations banning the open carry of firearms in lodges and camping areas of state parks and forests were unconstitutional in light of a state Supreme Court decision last year that struck a blanket prohibition against possessing guns on state lands. 

Judge Jeffrey J. Clark sided with attorneys for the Delaware State Sportsmen’s Association, who argued that the regulations from the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and the Delaware Department of Agriculture violated a provision of the state constitution that allows Delaware citizens to keep and bear arms for self-defense outside of the home. 

Francis G.X. Pileggi, who represented the organization, said that the regulations unlawfully prevented people without an open-carry permit from possessing guns in areas where they slept overnight with their families.  Those area, he said, were analogous to “vacation homes” or other places where families make their home on a temporary basis. 

Pileggi, who also chairs Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott commercial litigation practice, said he was still reviewing the decision, but claimed the ruling as a win for his client.
“I think at first glance we are viewing it as a victory on the major arguments we made,” Pileggi said in an interview.

The Delaware Department of Justice, which represented the DNREC and DDA, deferred comment to the state agencies, whose representatives did not immediately provide comment late Thursday afternoon. 

The new regulations went into effect May 11, about five months after the Delaware Supreme Court, in a 3-2 decision, ruled that a broad ban on guns at state parks and forests “completely eviscerate a core right to keep and bear arms for defense of self and family outside the home.”

Under the revised rules, concealed carry permit-holders and current and former law enforcement officials were allowed to carry guns in all areas of the parks and forests. Other visitors, however, were restricted from possessing firearms in places the agencies deemed to be “sensitive,” including lodges, offices, education centers, bath houses and public campgrounds. 

The DSSA initially challenged the regulations pertaining to all of the designated areas, but later refined its argument to just lodges and campgrounds.

The DNREC and DDA said that the regulations promoted the government’s objective of ensuring the general safety of visitors on public lands. According to Clark’s opinion, the agencies said the designated areas made up less than 1 percent of all parks and forests, and guns were still permitted. 

But Clark said that the regulations banned guns in the places where visitors spend most of their time, and the burden was on visitors was too substantial to survive a constitutional challenge. 

“The effect of including camp sites within sensitive areas forces state park and forest visitors to give up their right to self-defense in order to camp overnight in those areas,” he wrote in a 38-page opinion. “the right for self-protection, as recognized by the Delaware Supreme Court, is unduly burdened when an overnight guest is banned from possessing his or her firearm while camping overnight in a state park.” 

Clark also struck regulations allowing law enforcement to conduct automatic background checks and inspect permits as facially unconstitutional under the Fourth and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

Other rules that did not raise constitutional concerns were allowed to remain in place.
The case was captioned Delaware State Sportsmen’s Association v. Garvin. 

NOTE: https://courts.delaware.gov/Opinions/Download.aspx?id=279720


PENNSYLVANIA- new, update

HB2700 [new]: An Act amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in firearms and other dangerous articles, providing for identification required for purchase of firearm ammunition.

Status:
 Referred to Judiciary 

Bill text: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/PN/Public/btCheck.cfm?txtType=HTM&sessYr=2017&sessInd=0&billBody=H&billTyp=B&billNbr=2700&pn=4206

HB2060 [update]: An Act amending Titles 18 (Crimes and Offenses) and 23 (Domestic Relations) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in firearms and other dangerous articles, further providing for persons not to possess, use, manufacture, control, sell or transfer firearms and providing for relinquishment of firearms and firearm licenses by convicted persons and for abandonment of firearms, weapons or ammunition; and, in protection from abuse, further providing for definitions, for commencement of proceedings, for hearings, for relief, for return of relinquished firearms, other weapons and ammunition and additional relief, for relinquishment for consignment sale, lawful transfer or safekeeping and for relinquishment to third party for safekeeping, imposing a penalty and providing for order to seal record from public view. 

Status:

Signed in House
Bill text: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/PN/Public/btCheck.cfm?txtType=HTM&sessYr=2017&sessInd=0&billBody=H&billTyp=B&billNbr=2060&pn=3820


FEDERAL- updates 

HR6649: 3D Printed Gun Safety Act of 2018 

Status:
Referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations.

 Bill text: https://www.congress.gov/115/bills/hr6649/BILLS-115hr6649ih.pdf

HR6654: To prohibit the transfer of a firearm at a gun show by a person who is not a licensed dealer.

Status:Referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations.

  https://www.congress.gov/115/bills/hr6654/BILLS-115hr6654ih.pdf


HR6920: School Security is Homeland Security Grant Act of 2018

Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response and Communications 

Bill text: https://www.congress.gov/115/bills/hr6920/BILLS-115hr6920ih.pdf