CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey led a five-state coalition in urging the U.S. Supreme Court to review a federal appeals court decision that he says unnecessarily burdens an individual’s constitutional right to bear arms lawfully.
A friend-of-the-court brief was filed Monday in reference to a ruling by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The court determined in what constitutes a valid frisk, a pat down is permitted based solely upon a reasonable suspicion that an individual is armed.
The Attorney General disagrees that the potential presence of a weapon automatically makes an individual dangerous.
“You cant deem an armed individual dangerous,” said Morrisey. “This has profound implications in West Virginia, a state that this constitutional carry.”
The brief argues that the appeals court misinterpreted existing U.S. Supreme Court case law by collapsing a two-part inquiry into whether someone is both armed and dangerous to a single requirement based solely upon whether a person is armed.
West Virginia was joined in the brief with attorneys generals from Indiana, Michigan, Texas and Utah.