AG Morrisey files amicus brief in Second Amendment case - WOWK 13 Charleston, Huntington WV News, Weather, Sports

AG Morrisey files amicus brief in Second Amendment case

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West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey recently announced that he joined 19 other states in filing a friend of the court brief in a New York case challenging a statute requiring people to show particular need to obtain a permit to carry a firearm outside of the home.

Morrisey said the statute limits a person's Second Amendment right to bear arms. In the lawsuit Kachalsky v. Cacace, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law, ruling the Second Amendment's protections do not extend outside of the home, the news release states.

The news release further states that in 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court in Columbia v. Heller struck down a District of Columbia law that banned private ownership of guns. The court held the Second Amendment protects a person's right to keep and bear arms for self defense.

 "The Supreme Court's decision in Heller recognizes that a law-abiding individual has the right to bear arms for self-defense," Morrisey said in the news release. "Under the text of the Second Amendment itself, this right necessarily extends outside of the home. We have the right to ‘keep and bear' arms; one ‘keeps' arms inside the home, but one ‘bears' arms outside of the home. Any ruling to the contrary simply ignores this plain language."

Morrisey argues the Second Circuit's decision runs against the Heller case.

 

"The Kachalsky decision affects West Virginia because the Second Circuit's interpretation of the scope of the Second Amendment was incorrect and that decision could impact future court decisions," Morrisey said in the release. "Such a narrow view of the Second Amendment will chip away at this core constitutional right. The second Circuit's decision also affects West Virginians in a more narrow sense, particularly when it comes to West Virginia's reciprocity agreements with other states. The ability of other states to restrict law-abiding citizens to carry weapons outside of the home means that the permits issued in West Virginia will not be recognized in those states."