Legal Commentary

Fed. Dist. Ct. enjoins South Dakota ban on concealed carry permits for legal resident aliens

By David Kopel

Decision here. Not decided on Second Amendment or other RKBA grounds. Very straightforward application of existing doctrine on equal protection and legal aliens. In short, state (but not federal) discrimination against legal aliens is subject to strict scrutiny. There is an exception for ?governmental functions? which involve discretion in self-governance of the polity?such as voting, teaching in public schools, being a peace officer, etc. Those exceptions were not relevant here, so the South Dakota limitation of concealed carry permits to citizens only is preliminarily enjoined.

Full post as published by The Volokh Conspiracy on February 11, 2011 (boomark / email).