Former Supreme Court Justice David Souter graced the First Circuit, sitting by designation, for an appeal involving the Second Amendment. It seems like guns are getting all the press these days.
But Souter’s opinion wasn’t exactly what we would call a treatise of judicial erudition. The darn thing was only eight pages in Courier font.
Load Indicators
The suit found its way to the First Circuit when two firearms advocacy groups and a gun shop
Vagueness
The “plainly indicates” language is at issue. Appellants had argued vagueness and a violation of due process over the passage of the regulation requiring load indicators on guns. The gravamen of their argument was that vagueness of the term “plainly indicates” makes the whole law impossible to enforce and thus violates due process of gun sellers.
Want of Standing
The court could have actually left the vagueness issue alone, because a dismissal could have stood simply based on the court’s finding that the gun advocacy groups lacked standing to sue. The circuit affirmed the lower court’s dismissal based on the gun advocacy group’s failure to prove that at least one of its members had individual standing to bring a challenge. This fatal flaw meant that the defendants failed the organizational standing test and their complaint didn’t need to be heard on the merits.
Related Resources:
- First Circuit Upholds Firearms Restrictions (Court House News Service)
- Cal. Supremes to Hear Handgun Ammo ‘Void for Vagueness’ Appeal (California Case Law Blog)
- Two Lawsuits Filed Against Sunnyvale’s Gun Ordinance (FindLaw’s California Case Law Blog)
- Our Dear Sunnyvale Becomes the Next Big Gun Control Battleground (FindLaw’s California Case Law Blog)
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