Noncitizens can conceal weapons: Kentucky law ruled unconstitutional...

Noncitizens can conceal weapons


Kentucky law ruled unconstitutional


By Brett Barrouquere
The Associated Press, March 17, 2008

A federal judge has stopped enforcement of a Kentucky law barring noncitizens from carrying concealed deadly weapons.

The law is written too broadly and violates the rights of attorney Alexander M. Say, a British national who has lived in Kentucky for 15 years, U.S. District Judge Thomas Russell wrote in an eight-page decision Friday.

'Finally, it is in the public interest to prevent the violation of an individual's constitutional rights,' Russell wrote.

The American Civil Liberties Union sued the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department and Kentucky State Police on behalf of Say in July, challenging the citizenship requirement. The sheriff's department and state police are the two agencies that would have to approve Say's license application.

Say argued that no federal law requires U.S. citizenship for people to be licensed to purchase, carry, transport or carry a concealed deadly weapon, and neither should state law.

Before the adoption of the law, Kentucky didn't require a check to see if the applicant was an illegal immigrant. The sheriff's department and state police argued that the intent of the law was to allow an applicant to buy a firearm without undergoing a telephone check with the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

Russell said that argument wasn't persuasive.

'A blanket prohibition discriminating against aliens is not precisely drawn to achieve the goal of facilitating firearms purchases when there exists a nondiscriminatory way to achieve the same goals,' Russell wrote.

State Rep. Bob Damron, D-Nicholasville, has said the purpose of the law is to allow citizens to protect themselves.

Damron has said lawmakers didn't want to make it easy for noncitizens to carry concealed weapons at a time when Americans are concerned about possible attacks by foreign terrorists.



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