Govt officials still insist on appeal to gun ruling

Sablan

Gov. Ralph DLG Torres wants to appeal or stay the U.S. District Court for the NMI ruling to strike down parts of Commonwealth gun law, allowing for handguns in the NMI.

“I’ll be meeting this week to prioritize our course of action. But I do believe that we need to have some sort of an appeal, or contest, or stay or something on that matter. I would like to take that course to have an appeal or stay so we are looking into our options,” Torres said last week.

At the same time, Rep. Vinnie Sablan (Ind-Saipan) has introduced a resolution to urge the governor and the attorney general to appeal U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona Manglona’s widely unpopular ruling last week.

CNMI Attorney General Edward Manibusan, though, has said the CNMI’s success of appeal is “almost nothing at all,” based on previous Superior Court rulings striking down a ban on handguns.

Sablan described his resolution as “one final push” that the people they represent “demand and deserve with an issue of this magnitude” that puts “handguns on our streets and putting handguns in the hands of irresponsible gun owners.”

This is almost like seeking a second opinion on medical diagnosis. There is no harm in that,” Sablan said. “I feel that the issue is so great that we need to have the comfort that we have taken it up to the highest court, highest power of interpretation to see if that is the case and if this is the final ruling.

“And if it is,” he said. “And the appeal goes through and ruling stays. Then so be it. We are comforted. We know we tried and we didn’t give up on our citizens.

But if we just say it is just ‘a waste of time,’” Sablan said, quoting an earlier comment from Manibusan, “we are giving up on our community.”

“If [Manibusan is] worried about the cost…we come in here [the Legislature] and we figure out how to fund it. But the cost of an appeal and the cost of the possibilities if we have handguns in our society, there’s just no match. I quite frankly don’t care how much it is going to cost us to appeal this issue.”

Sablan believes the NMI government is not depriving its citizens of the rights under the Second Amendment, or the right to bear arms, because they have the right to bear .22 caliber or a .410 shotgun.

“[The] framers of our constitution just said no to handguns. If you look at this in general, are we depriving ourselves of that Second Amendment? We are not. I hope we get the decision of the Ninth Circuit.”

Department of Public Safety Commissioner Robert Guerrero, for his part, is also concerned with threat of guns.

“The threat is greater now because handguns can be concealed and of course, we don’t have a choice. This is a constitutional issue,” Guerrero told Saipan Tribune.

Guerrero acknowledged that the gun control legislation being considered by the Legislature may not be the greatest but is needed at least to start regulating handguns.

“Because right now it is open. Anybody can come in and register a handgun,” he said.

According to the ruling, Guerrero said, permanent residents, which include green card holders, can apply for handguns as well.

“It’s an open market right now. Sad to say and that’s why the administration and the Legislature are pushing to get a statute in place to regulate it, to tell us what kind of guns can be registered, what’s the waiting period. Because are our old laws are still active based on the ruling, the only thing that is struck out was that handguns couldn’t be register. Now it can.”

But it didn’t set the guidelines as far as what kind of handguns can be registered. “That’s what it is. It’s open. That’s why this legislation is crucial to law enforcement especially.”

Senate Bill 19-94, the AG-drafted gun control laws, will be considered by the House in their session today.