The Michigan Court of Appeals has rejected a constitutional challenge to the state’s concealed weapons law. The opinion was made public Friday.
The defendant, Kimberly Langston, was charged with carrying a concealed weapon in her purse without a permit as a passenger in a vehicle. Her attorney attempted a novel defense that has been tried in other jurisdictions – that Michigan’s concealed weapons law is not consistent with the nation’s historical traditions of gun regulation at the time the Bill of Rights was adopted.
Defense lawyer Roland Lindh told Michigan Public Radio that his argument was lawmakers should not be allowed to ignore that as they enact new gun restrictions.
“If we look at history, whether we like it or not, whatever history says, if you can find an analogy for it, fine, the law stands,” he said. “If you can’t find an analogy for it in the past, then it’s unconstitutional.”
Lindh said no decision has been made on whether to appeal the case to the Michigan Supreme Court.
Van Buren County Assistant Prosecutor Jeff Rhoa, who argued the case, said the opinion helps settle the controversy on that defense in Michigan and allows the criminal case against Langston to go forward.
“They’ve gone both ways across the country and this is why the decision is important to us,” he said. “The practical matter is that it’s not being used as a hammer to strike down this charge, and it’s still a good law and not in violation of the Second or 14th Amendments, and that’s what the court held.”
Lindh said if his client does not appeal, he hopes a similar case makes it to the Michigan Supreme Court in the future.
