WINSTON-SALEM (AP) — A federal judge is giving gun-rights advocates a limited victory after they challenged North Carolina’s law banning gun possession in public during a declared emergency.
The Winston-Salem Journal reports that Judge Malcolm Howard upheld the state law while limiting the state’s power to a ban guns except at the owner’s own home.
Howard says while the state has a compelling interest in public safety and crime prevention, the riot control law passed in 1969 goes too far in restricting the constitutional right to gun ownership.
The ruling closes a lawsuit by gun owners from Stokes, Beaufort and Craven counties, and two gun-rights groups. Howard ruled that the state law can’t apply to them.
North Carolina can appeal the ruling.