Court Opinion

ID: 9810061
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 21:38:50.562656+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:39:21.251080
License: Public Domain

Allen, J.,
concurring: The right to bear arms, which is protected and safeguarded by the Federal and State constitutions, is subject to the authority of the General Assembly, in the exercise of the police power, to regulate, but the regulation must be reasonable and not prohibitive, and must bear a fair relation to the preservation of the public peace and safety.
*580This is, I think, the correct principle, and it appears to me the constitutional privilege is infringed by the act, under which the defendant is indicted, as it makes one guilty of a violation of law, who carries a pistol off his own premises openly and for a lawful purpose without a permit, and he is required to pay $5 and to give a bond in the sum of $500 before the permit can issue.
No provision is made for an emergency, and no exception in favor of one who carries a pistol off his premises openly, in the necessary defense of his person or property, when he has had no opportunity to secure a permit.
Stacy, J., concurs in this opinion.