Last updated May 9, 2011
In Nordyke v. King, two gun show promoters challenge an Alameda County ordinance prohibiting the possession of firearms or ammunition on County-owned property. The case, which has now been ongoing for over a decade, implicates important Second Amendment issues that remain unresolved following the U.S. Supreme Court's decisions in District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. City of Chicago.
On May 2, 2011, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision rejecting the plaintiff-appellants’ First, Second, and Fourteenth Amendment claims. In its opinion, the Ninth Circuit held that the ordinance does not "substantially burden" the Second Amendment, an argument made in LCAV's amicus brief to the Ninth Circuit last year. The court did, however, direct the district court to grant the appellants leave to amend their complaint on their Second Amendment claim.
With this decision, the Nordyke panel joins the numerous courts nationwide that have rejected Second Amendment challenges and confirmed that common sense firearms laws remain constitutional after Heller. LCAV has published this detailed summary of the Nordyke decision.
As part of our work supporting the defense of common sense firearms laws in Second Amendment litigation nationwide, LCAV will continue to support Alameda County as this case heads back to the district court.
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