Judge Says Waiting Period 'Burdens' 2nd Amendment- 'Possession of Firearm Necessary Prerequisite to Exercising Right to Bear Arms'

Bob Unruh * WND

A federal judge in California has ruled in a Second Amendment fight that a state-imposed waiting period to take possession of a firearm is a burden on the right to keep and bear arms.

The ruling came in a challenge brought by the Second Amendment Foundation to the state’s mandatory 10-day waiting period to obtain firearms. The case, Silvester v. Harris, continues.

It was Senior Judge Anthony Ishii of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California who said in an 11-page decision that California Attorney General Kamala Harris “argues that the WPL (Waiting Period Law) is a minor burden on the Second Amendment, [but] plaintiffs are correct that this is a tacit acknowledgement that a protected Second Amendment right is burdened.”

He wrote, “The court concludes that the WPL burdens the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.”

Alan Gottlieb, the executive vice president for the SAF, said the statement is important.

“Judge Ishii’s comparison of the waiting period to a prior restraint is significant,” Gottlieb said, “He further stated that Harris, in her motion to dismiss the case, had not shown that the waiting period law is effective in reducing gun-related violent crime, or in keeping guns out of the wrong hands where the government has already issued that purchaser a License To Carry or a Certificate Of Eligibility.”

Also in the argument was Calguns, the state firearms advocacy organization, and Chairman Gene Hoffman said it is “refreshing to see lower federal courts taking the burden of intermediate scrutiny or strict scrutiny seriously.”

“California has such a byzantine scheme of gun control that it can’t justify making people who already own firearms registered with the State of California wait 10 days to buy a new gun after they complete a background check,” Hoffman said. “We look forward to bringing some common sense back to how the law abiding buy and sell registered guns in California.”

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/12/judge-says-waiting-period-burdens-2nd-amendment/#6itHqFZc7TjvkSUt.99