Today, the Justice Department opened an investigation to determine whether Philadelphia Police use a vague “good cause” standard to cancel permits to carry legal firearms. The U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment protects the civil right keep and bear legal firearms — including the right to legally carry firearms where allowed. The investigation focuses on the Philadelphia Police’s permitting system; the investigation does not support any armed obstruction of federal or local law enforcement.
“I have directed the Civil Rights Division, through our Second Amendment Section, to defend law-abiding citizens from local authorities who infringe the right to safely carry legal firearms,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Law-abiding Americans, regardless of where they live, should not have to worry that their city will revoke their means of self-defense.”
It is a violation of the Second Amendment for government officials to use vague, personal discretion when determining whether to issue or revoke permits to carry firearms. In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court, in its landmark decision District of Columbia v. Heller, held that the Second Amendment protects the right of law-abiding citizens to possess weapons that are in common use for lawful purposes. In 2022, the Supreme Court held, in another case, that permitting officials may not base licensing decisions merely on their personal discretion. Here, it is alleged that Philadelphia Police use just such a discretionary standard to improperly limit Second Amendment rights.
The Civil Rights Division’s Second Amendment Section enforces the Second Amendment. If you believe your right to keep and bear arms is being infringed, please submit a complaint through www.justice.gov/crt/second-amendment-section.
We need to stop this permit non-sense, its just become another form of ‘weaponized government’ in states that require permits like it was before Bruen and its still that way after Bruen. There are too many ‘uncontrolled’ factors that can be sneaked in and its a constant threat of state government intrusion and persecution for simply exercising a constitutional right. The federal government should simply outlaw permitting schemes for firearms ownership and carry and make permit-less constitutional carry the law of the land AGAIN EVEN THOUGH IT ALREADY IS THE LAW OF THE LAND UNDER THE CONSTITUTION. No one has to get a permit to own and carry a laptop to exercise their first amendment and neither should those exercising the second amendment need a permit to own and carry a gun.
It’s surely coincidental that Philadelphia has been democrat ruled turd bucket for many, many decades. Ignoring even the PA state constitution has been an ongoing policy for those same many, many decades.
They should be busy due to too many states like Connecticut, are creating laws that either limit what you can by during a period of time; want to hold gun manufacturers legally liable for crimes commited with the guns they manufacture; they passed legislation some time ago limiting the number of rounds a magazine can hold; and so much more. All these laws due is make it difficult for legal gun owners to carry or defend themselves all the while criminals could care less about gun laws.