Court Revives Challenge To Ban On Gun Sales To Americans Visiting From Abroad

A federal appeals court on Tuesday revived a lawsuit backed by gun rights activists challenging a U.S. government policy that prevents American citizens who live abroad from buying guns when they visit the United States. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, by a 2-1 vote, threw out a federal district judge’s ruling that had rejected the challenge. The appeals court ordered that the case now go to trial. At issue are provisions of U.S. law that prevent gun sales to people who do not live in the state where the sale takes place, as is the case with people who reside in another country. The law does allow dealers to lend or rent firearms to people who wish to use them for sporting purposes like hunting. The lead plaintiff in the case, Stephen Dearth, an American citizen who lives in Canada, says the restriction infringes on his right to bear arms under the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment because it means he cannot buy or rent a gun for self-defense purposes when visiting the United States. Dearth is backed by the Second Amendment Foundation, a gun rights group...more