Federal Court Rules Against DC on Wrongful Gun Arrests

U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth issued an important decision on Wednesday that the D.C. government is liable for wrongfully arresting six people between 2012 and 2014 for violating its ban on carrying handguns in public. It is the latest loss of the city, which continues to pass legislation that runs afoul of governing Supreme Court precedent.

Ironically, the District was behind some of the greatest losses for gun control advocates. In District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court in 2008 ruled the right to bear arms is an individual right. Two years later, in McDonald v. City of Chicago, the court ruled that this right applied against the states. Since then, courts have rejected efforts to limit aspects of gun ownership from barring concealed weapons to restricting ammunition. Then, in Wrenn v. District of Columbia, the D.C. Circuit struck down a requirement that gun owners show “good reason” for a concealed carry permit as unconstitutional.

Now Lamberth has cleared the way for claims for damages by as many as 4,500 people similarly arrested under the law the courts overturned in 2014. Those rising costs do not seem to register with the D.C. City Council. The city could appeal and argue that, at the time of the arrests, it was not clear that the underlying law was unconstitutional. Lamberth rejected that argument and held that the law was clearly unconstitutional when the city passed it.