Wilmington ruling may be gun control model for nation

A decision made last Friday by the Delaware U.S. District Court holding that gun restrictions imposed by the Wilmington Housing Authority on its residents are constitutional could become a model for the rest nation, according to a Cincinnati.com article yesterday morning. (See Jane Doe/Charles Boone v. Wilmington Housing Authority )

The article expounded District Judge Leonard P. Stark's writing in his 42-page opinion that "the housing authority's policy of prohibiting residents from openly carrying firearms in 'common areas' of public housing buildings is reasonable and does not unduly restrict residents' Second Amendment right to own and possess a gun."

The suit, according to the article, was originally filed June 1, 2010, and sought to overturn a blanket ban on gun ownership in public housing in the City of Wilmington altogether. A few weeks later, though, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in McDonald v. Chicago held that state and local governments couldn't impose blanket bans on gun ownership. Following that ruling, the Wilmington's housing authority dropped its blanket ban on firearms in September 2010, instead limiting restrictions to guns in common areas. The plaintiffs, backed by the National Rifle Association, however, didn't drop their suit even with the housing authority changes, insisting that the new restrictions also were unconstitutional.