Thread by @2Aupdates

"Instead, the severity of the Orders’ burden warrants strict scrutiny—which the Orders fail to satisfy because they are not the least restrictive means to further Appellees’ interest, especially when compared to businesses that... were allowed to remain open."

https://twitter.com/2Aupdates/status/1484251761405743113

"Appellees’ lack-of-burden argument fails."

"Instead, the Orders’ severe burden on the core of the Second Amendment right warrants strict scrutiny. And because the Orders are not the least restrictive means available, they fail to satisfy strict scrutiny’s high standard."

"A 48-day closure of all gun shops, ammunition shops, and firing ranges throughout the County... would seem to 'amount[] to a destruction of the Second Amendment right,' and therefore be categorically unconstitutional."

"Under Teixeira’s rationale, this case is more like the Ezell cases than Teixeira. The Orders prevented all County residents from acquiring firearms and ammunition and maintaining the proficiency of their use at firing ranges."

"Consistent with this court’s prior hypothetical discussion of the very type of 'complete ban' at issue here, strict scrutiny applies."

"In other words, the ban on protected Second Amendment activities would continue until the government said it didn’t."

"While Appellees also argue that the Orders were “in effect for a finite period—from March 20 through May 7,” it is only when reviewing the Orders with the benefit of hindsight that it appears finite. The text of the Orders allowed for perpetual extensions."

"People don’t plan to be robbed in their homes in the dead of night or to be assaulted while walking through city streets. It is in these unexpected and sudden moments of attack that the Second Amendments’ rights to keep and bear arms becomes most acute."

"The acute need for Second Amendment rights during temporary crises was well-understood by our Founders... Modern society agrees, as firearm and ammunition sales have soared during the recent pandemic."

"Among other things, the County could have opened gun shops, ammunition shops, and firing ranges on an appointment-only basis, just like it eventually did for people who purchased a firearm before the Orders took effect."

"Just like in Roman Catholic Diocese, the Orders allowed 'essential' businesses like bicycle repair shops and hardware stores to remain open but forced venues that provide access to core fundamental liberties—in this case, Second Amendment rights—to close."

"The Orders’ discriminatory denigration of fundamental liberties reveals that they are not the least restrictive means available, further demonstrating their inability to survive strict scrutiny."

"When a government completely bans all acquisition of firearms and ammunition by closing gun shops, ammunition shops, and firing ranges, it’s one of those off-limits policy choices squarely contemplated by Heller."

"If social isolation is the paramount concern, why allow bicycle shops, hardware stores, and golfing ranges to remain open?"

"Instead, [the government] summarily devalued a fundamental right by deeming businesses essential to the exercise of that right as 'non-essential,' without any proffered rationale whatsoever."

"We therefore reverse the district court’s order granting Appellees’ motion to dismiss and remand for further proceedings."