CA: Orange County Sheriff sued over carry permits

[Al Norris]

This just in from CA:

September 13, 2012 – In response to continuing complaints from Orange County firearms owners and Second Amendment civil rights activists, attorneys for the National Rifle Association and the CRPA Foundation have filed a lawsuit against Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens in U. S. District Court.

Orange County citizens should be able to exercise their fundamental right to bear arms, but they are precluded from doing so because they do not have what Sheriff Hutchens uniquely considers “good cause” for a license to carry a firearm in public.

The lawsuit seeks to compel her to issue those licenses, and asks the Court to enjoin Sheriff Hutchens from requiring license applicants to prove they have a special need, beyond the general need to defend themselves and their loved ones, for a license to carry before she will issue them one.

Just days after having filed the Complaint, plaintiffs filed a motion for preliminary injunction asking the Court to order Sheriff Hutchens to cease withholding permits. A copy of the Complaint and Motion for Preliminary Injunction is available here http://michellawyers.com/mckay-v-sheriff-hutchens/.

Calgunlaws.com News will keep everyone updated on the progress of this case. Subscribe to Calgunlaws.com e-bulletins to be kept informed.

SUPPORT THE NRA/ CRPAF LEGAL ACTION PROJECT

Seventeen years ago the NRA and CRPA joined forces to fight local gun bans being written and pushed in California by the gun ban lobby. Their coordinated efforts became the NRA/CRPA “Local Ordinance Project” (LOP) - a statewide campaign to fight ill conceived local efforts at gun control and educate politicians about available programs that are effective in reducing accidents and violence without infringing on the rights of law-abiding gun owners. The NRA/CRPA LOP has had tremendous success in beating back most of these anti-self-defense proposals.

In addition to fighting local gun bans, for decades the NRA has been litigating dozens of cases in California courts to promote the right to self-defense and the Second Amendment. In the post Heller and McDonald legal environment, NRA and CRPA Foundation have formed the NRA/CRPA Foundation Legal Action Project (LAP), a joint venture to pro-actively strike down ill-conceived gun control laws and ordinances and advance the rights of firearms owners, specifically in California. Sometimes, success is more likely when LAP’s litigation efforts are kept low profile, so the details of every lawsuit are not always released. To see a partial list of the LAP’s recent accomplishments, or to contribute to the NRA or to the NRA / CRPAF LAP and support this and similar Second Amendment cases, visit www.nraila.com and www.crpafoundation.org. All donations made to the CRPA Foundation will directly support litigation efforts to advance the rights of California gun owners.

In addition to the source at Michel & Associates, the case has been recapped. The Docket and associated filings are here: Docket

The lead attorneys are Carl (Chuck) Michel, Glenn McRoberts and Sean Brady, all attorneys for Michel & Assoc. Filed on Sept. 5th in the the US District Court for the Central District of CA.

An amended complaint was filed on Sept. 7th. Then on Sept. 11th, a Motion for a Preliminary Injunction (MPI) was filed.

Due to fairly recent changes in CA law, most CA residents/citizens are prohibited from almost any form of carry, except by permit and such permit is a concealed carry permit.

This lawsuit is tailored to the CA requirement (and discretionary use by the permitting officials) of "good cause." The suit also advances the 1A concept of "prior restraint" as it applies to the 2A.

 

[Name Taken]

Due to fairly recent changes in CA law, most CA residents/citizens are prohibited from almost any form of carry, except by permit and such permit is a concealed carry permit.

Take note open carry folks living in a liberal state.. You think your Youtube video's are some kind of devine intervention in "making a point". Till the liberals bounce you back to reality the next law making session.

 

[krucam]

There certainly is no shortage of misguided leadership, making for a fertile litigative landscape there. If there can be any positive, it is the strong grass roots organizations and teams of lawyers who are gaining the required experience in the heart of the dragons lair.

Very crowded there now with Peruta, Richards, Kealoha, Birdt all at CA9. I may be missing someone. Asking for the PI might help from being stayed, correct?

Must rest! Just finished a Century in St Mary's County, on the bike, and am pooped...

 

[esqappellate]

There certainly is no shortage of misguided leadership, making for a fertile litigative landscape there. If there can be any positive, it is the strong grass roots organizations and teams of lawyers who are gaining the required experience in the heart of the dragons lair.

Very crowded there now with Peruta, Richards, Kealoha, Birdt all at CA9. I may be missing someone. Asking for the PI might help from being stayed, correct?

Must rest! Just finished a Century in St Mary's County, on the bike, and am pooped...

Kru, I did a century in St. Mary's and it was a piece of cake -- it is all flat! Do a century in Garrett county -- now *that's* a century...

A PI is addressed to the court's discretion and can stay the case if he wants. Of course, a refusal to issue a PI is appealable as of right too. Not much point in that, given the pendency of all those 9th Circuit cases ahead of them.

 

[Gray Peterson]

Kru, I did a century in St. Mary's and it was a piece of cake -- it is all flat! Do a century in Garrett county -- now *that's* a century...

A PI is addressed to the court's discretion and can stay the case if he wants. Of course, a refusal to issue a PI is appealable as of right too. Not much point in that, given the pendency of all those 9th Circuit cases ahead of them.

It's pretty clearly a hail mary pass plus an easy fees case. If you look at the judicial assignments in Santa Ana office of CACD, you'd see a very strong Republican appointed tilt (though Republican appointed doesn't mean pro-gun, though so far all of the Clinton/Obama/Carter appointees have been 100 percent universally bad for us).

 

[yellowfin]

Also currently in play is Scocca v. Smith/Santa Clara Co., though I forget how far along that one is at the moment, might be amending the complaint.

 

[Boxcab]

Take note open carry folks living in a liberal state.. You think your Youtube video's are some kind of devine intervention in "making a point". Till the liberals bounce you back to reality the next law making session.

Seems the described actions expedited the time table. By making a scene and getting a knee-jerk reaction out of the law makers, a lawsiut is now in motion to clean up the law.

If you had no intention of UOC’ing, the video and resulting law had little effect on you. If your goal is LOC or CCW, the actions of a few may achieve that goal for you on an accelerated schedule.

Time will tell if their little gambit will lead to restored rights, I will hold judgment until after the rulings and appeals have played out.

 

[CypherPunk]

I wish the NRA would get engaged in Maryland.

Is the NRA now reacting to the success of the SAF?