What is Peruta v. San Diego?
Peruta v. County of San Diego is a federal lawsuit that seeks to overturn California’s system of issuing concealed-weapon permits.
Wikipedia:
“Under San Diego’s policy, a ‘typical’ responsible, law-abiding citizen in San Diego County cannot bear arms in public for self-defense” because by San Diego’s definition, typical citizens fearing for their personal safety cannot ‘”distinguish [themselves] from the mainstream'” and receive concealed carry permits. (Peruta v. San Diego (9th Cir, 02-13-14) p. 54.)
Wikipedia states that California does not allow the open carry of firearms whether loaded or unloaded. (Cal. Pen. Code §§ 25850, 26155.) “Thus, the court found San Diego County’s restrictive policy in combination with California’s denial of open carry ultimately resulted in the destruction of the typical law-abiding, responsible citizen’s right to bear arms in any manner in public, thereby violating the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution. Unless overridden, the decision will force California to become a shall-issue state in regards to concealed carry permits.”
This website – OK, Fine – takes no sides on the Peruta v. San Diego case. This article is for informational purposes only.
Edward Peruta is the lead plaintiff in Peruta v. (County of) San Diego.
In 2008, Peruta applied for a “concealed carry” permit to carry gun in San Diego, where he spends part of the year living in his 40-foot Country Coach mobile home. He told the county sheriff’s office that he needed a gun for self-defense in his RV and while doing his job as a legal investigator and spot-news videographer who sells shots of crime scenes and accidents to media outlets.
The sheriff’s office denied his application and appeal, finding that he wasn’t a San Diego resident and could not demonstrate any specific threats to his safety.
Peruta has gun permits in Connecticut, Florida, and Utah, and he took the denial as a challenge. “I asked him where the hell he thought he came from. He asked me what I meant. And I said, ‘Is there a federal court in this town?’ And the rest is history.”
Peruta, now in his 60’s, has lived an unorthodox life which includes a long list of legal scuffles, unemployment, a brief and turbulent stint as a police officer, and involvement in a securities-fraud case.
Peruta’s refusal to take no for an answer has gained him a reputation in his home state of Connecticut as a thorn in the sides of bureaucrats and a liberator of public information over the years, writes Mother Jones magazines.
Currently, the state’s police chiefs and sheriffs may require applicants to show “good cause” for carrying a concealed gun in public, writes Mother Jones magazine. Such discretion is applied arbitrarily and violates the Second Amendment, according to Peruta and his legal team, which is backed by the NRA.
That argument swayed two judges on the 9th Circuit Court, who ruled in Peruta’s favor in February. For a moment, it seemed that California would join the 37 “shall issue” states that issue concealed-carry permits to anyone who meets basic requirements such as a background check. Then California Attorney General Kamala Harris successfully petitioned the court to reconsider the ruling “en banc.”
(An “en banc” session is a session where a case is heard before all the judges of a court – in other words, before the entire bench – rather than by a panel selected from them, according to Wikipedia).
Next Tuesday – June 16th – an 11-judge panel in San Francisco will hear oral arguments in the case.
Sources state that both sides of the gun debate are watching Peruta intently. “If the California permitting system were struck down, that could be the difference between tens of thousands of people and a million or more people carrying in public,” predicts Mike McLively, a staff attorney at the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which has filed an amicus brief in support of the current law.
Gene Hoffman, chairman of the Calguns Foundation is sponsoring a similar case that will be heard alongside Peruta’s. He expects the Supreme Court to step in after the 9th rules: “I think they’re going to take this case whatever direction it goes.”
The NRA has said Peruta “presents an opportunity for the Supreme Court to settle some Second Amendment issues that desperately need resolving.”
What triggered Peruta’s case, writes Mother Jones, is what has set off a lot of his challenges over the years: A public official telling him he couldn’t have what he believed he was entitled to by law.
(Updated article)
Baby Shot Dead By Toddler In Cleveland
A 1-year-old boy has died after being shot by a 3-year-old boy in Cleveland, police said Sunday.
Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams said a 3-year-old boy is believed to have picked up the unattended gun and it went off, hitting the 1-year-old in the head.
Charges are likely to follow for the person responsible for leaving the gun unsecured.
Bizarre Idaho Self-Defense Shooting
CNN
OK, Fine finds guns and gun control to be a difficult topic simply because sometimes dangers do exist. Europeans are puzzled by U.S. society, which is generally more violence-oriented than theirs. The U.S. must still be “the Wild West.”
Here, an attempted murder in Idaho is caught on camera, along with a confession.
Get Your Santa Photo With Guns At Atlanta Gun Club
“Santa’s Grotto” gun club in Atlanta, Georgia, is allowing citizens to meet Santa Claus and pose with him while holding automatic weapons including an AK-47, an AR-15 and an FN-SCAR-17. The charity event was on Saturday the day before the second anniversary of the Sandy Hook school shooting.
Video by The Lip TV.
Gun Enthusiast Meeting In Washington State With Extreme Language
“Three Percenters” leader Mike Vanderboegh speaks to opponents of a Washington State law expanding mandatory background checks at the grounds of the State Capitol in Olympia. The law seeks to close the “gun show loophole.”
Here, Mike Vanderboegh threatens “second amendment remedies” to Washington state background check law.
Right Wing Watch video.
He Hasn’t Taken Your Guns Yet: Ammo Catching Up With Demand, Firearms Dealers Say
According to the AP, a year after a national shortage of firearms ammunition was being felt at sporting-goods stores, Pennsylvania firearms dealers say supply is catching up with demand.
Pennsylvania newspapers report that retailers have most of the popular deer calibers in stock, and the availability of handgun ammunition is improving.
There are a couple of exceptions.
Dealers say the .243 family of rifle cartridges and the .35 Remington are in short supply as hunters load up.
George Evanisko of Doogie’s Gun Shop in Johnstown, PA says manufacturers have produced a lot of ammunition the past two years.
Last year, western Pennsylvania firearms dealers were hit by ammunition shortages for smaller .22-caliber, 9 mm and .380-caliber firearms.
New Senator Joni Ernst Of Iowa
Joni Ernst, the new Republican senator in Iowa, said during an NRA event in 2012 that she would use a gun to defend herself from the government.
“I have a beautiful little Smith & Wesson, 9 millimeter, and it goes with me virtually everywhere,” Ernst said at the NRA and Iowa Firearms Coalition Second Amendment Rally in Searsboro, Iowa. “But I do believe in the right to carry, and I believe in the right to defend myself and my family — whether it’s from an intruder, or whether it’s from the government, should they decide that my rights are no longer important.”
The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down.
CNN: Dan Rather, Piers Morgan, And Gun Control
It seems the only place to find this video is on sites by gun rights advocates – instead of sites by those interested in gun control.
In the video, Rather apparently sent shock waves through the pro-gun community by saying “There’s no excuse to have an assault weapon.”
Video from 2013.
Open Carry Enthusiast Had Gun Stolen
In Gresham, Ore., an open-carry gun enthusiast had his gun stolen by a man who saw it and robbed him at gunpoint last week.
According to Gresham police, William Coleman III was talking to his cousin at about 2:10 a.m. on Saturday while openly carrying a gun he had purchased on Friday. Majority Report video with Matt Binder.
New Research: States That Have The Highest And Lowest Rates Of Gun Death
Hawaii has the lowest rate of gun deaths in the United States, while the District of Columbia has the highest, according to new research. That’s according to new research led by Bindu Kalesan, an assistant professor at Columbia University in New York City. For the research, they examined all recorded gun deaths in the United States between 2000 and 2010.
Over the past decade, deaths from gun-related violence — including murders, suicides and unintentional shootings — varied widely across the United States, the study revealed. Hawaii’s rate was roughly three per 100,000 citizens. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the District of Columbia had the highest rate of gun deaths, with about 22 per 100,000 citizens.
Aside from geography, race/ethnicity also played a role in gun death rates. The national rate of gun deaths was twice as high among black people as it was among whites. The researchers noted, however, that the number of black people killed as a result of gun violence fell in seven states and the District of Columbia. Meanwhile, gun deaths involving white people fell in only four states.
Gun deaths among Hispanics also declined in four states, while gun deaths involving non-Hispanics increased in nine states, according to the study published online Sept. 18 in BMJ Open.
The study also found that gun-related deaths increased in both Florida and Massachusetts. In these states, there were more gun deaths among whites and non-Hispanics. These states also reported an increase in gun-related murder rates.
The researchers pointed out these trends do not seem to reflect gun-control efforts and law in individual states.
For example, the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence ranked Massachusetts the third most restrictive state for firearm legislation in 2011.After Massachusetts passed a tough law restricting gun use in 1998, gun ownership rates dropped sharply, but violent crimes and murders increased. The influx of firearms from nearby states with weaker firearm laws could be to blame, the researchers suggested in a journal news release.
The study authors concluded that curbing gun violence may require reducing access to firearms and strengthening interstate border controls to prevent the transport of guns.
Aside from D.C., states with fewer gun-related deaths over the decade include: Arizona, California, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New York and North Carolina.
Across the United States, however, the number of gun-related murders and suicides did not change between 2000 and 2010. Nationally, deaths resulting from unintentional shootings dropped significantly, the study found.
OK, Fine. 