A federal judge has barred enforcement of a Kentucky law banning noncitizens from carrying concealed deadly weapons. At the same time, he ended the protection of American citizens from potentially dangerous terrorists. U.S. District Judge Thomas Russell determined that a Kentucky law is written too broadly and violates the rights of a British national who has lived in Kentucky for 15 years. 'It is in the public interest to prevent the violation of an individual's constitutional rights,' Russell wrote.
The American Civil Liberties Union had sued the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department and Kentucky State Police on behalf of the British man, challenging the citizenship requirement.
The man argued that no federal law requires U.S. citizenship for people to be licensed to purchase, transport or carry a concealed deadly weapon, and neither should state law.
Kentucky 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.
When are judges going to start to enforce the laws on the books as they are supposed to, and stop making new laws as our Senate and House representatives are elected to do? I would never have thought our good Kentuckians would have allowed this to happen.
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