In a setback for supporters of gun rights, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit set aside a major ruling by three of its own judges that made it easier to challenge local gun restrictions, says the New York Times. The court ordered a hearing before 11 judges on an earlier decision by a three-judge panel that applied the Second Amendment right to own guns to state and local laws. In extending the Second Amendment to the states, the Ninth Circuit stood alone among the federal circuit courts of appeals that have taken on the issue.
The California case involves an ordinance banning firearms at a public fairground. In a unanimous ruling in April, the three-judge panel upheld the ordinance but said Second Amendment protections applied, citing last year’s Supreme Court ruling that found for the first time that the Second Amendment protects the rights of individuals to keep and bear arms for personal use. That decision did not apply the Second Amendment to state and local laws.