dc dalton
Pennsylvania


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A federal appeals court granted county officials a new hearing Tuesday on whether local governments in California can restrict the location of gun shops, setting aside a ruling that said such regulations may violate the right to bear arms.

By a majority vote of its 27 judges, the Court of Appeals in San Francisco ordered a rehearing in a case challenging an ordinance passed by Alameda County supervisors in 1998. The ordinance prohibits new gun stores in unincorporated areas within 500 feet of a residential neighborhood, a school, a day care center, a liquor store or another gun shop.

An appeals court panel voted 2-1 in May to reinstate a suit by gun shop applicants, which a federal judge had dismissed. The panel majority said the Constitution protects the right to buy and sell firearms as well as the right to own them, and that the county, to justify the restrictions, must at least provide evidence that gun stores are 'a magnet for crime.'

Tuesday's order referred the case to an 11 judge panel, consisting of Chief Judge Sidney Thomas and 10 randomly selected judges, for a hearing to be scheduled later.

http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Local-gun-shop-regulation-to-have-its-day-in-court-10821209.php