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Open carry in ND

color of law

Accomplished Advocate
Joined
Oct 7, 2007
Messages
5,999
Location
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Even though possessing a firearm is a constitutionally protected activity, North Dakota restricts possession of firearms by certain classes of people or in sensitive places, felons and mentally ill, and places like at public gatherings. See Keller v. Keller, 894 NW 2d 883 - ND: Supreme Court 2017.

Setting aside felons and mentally ill, the last time the North Dakota Supreme Court seemed to have addressed ND’s constitutional “right to bear arms” was in 1987. See State v. Ricehill, 415 NW 2d 481 - ND: Supreme Court 1987. That being over 20 years before Heller was decided (2008), let alone McDonald (2010) and Bruen (2022). Constitutionally they can’t have both ways. They can’t infringe on both open carry and conceal carry. They have to pick one.

You don’t have to have a conceal carry license to conceal carry (constitutional carry), but you have to have a conceal carry license to open carry. I would bet the court would find that illogical. Of course, only fiction has to make sense.

It appears that ND has a lot of unconstitutional laws on the books.
 
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