Teixeira v. County of Alameda: Supporting Zoning Laws That Keep Gun Stores Out Of Sensitive Areas
Update: On May 14, 2018, after an 11-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit ruled in favor of Alameda County and the position Giffords Law Center advocated for in our amicus brief, the US Supreme Court denied review—leaving the Ninth Circuit’s favorable decision in place.
Case Information: Teixeira v. County of Alameda , No. 13-17132 (Ninth Circuit brief filed Aug. 1, 2016).
At Issue:This case involves a Second Amendment challenge to Alameda County’s gun dealer ordinance, which prohibits gun stores within 500 feet of any school, liquor store, or residence. The district court upheld the ordinance, but a divided Ninth Circuit panel vacated the district court’s opinion and remanded for further proceedings. The County filed a petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc, which is currently pending before the Ninth Circuit.
The Law Center’s Brief: Our brief explains that Alameda County’s modest dealer law provides a safe distance between new gun dealers and sensitive areas such as schools, and is a lawful exercise of the County’s authority to regulate the commercial sale of guns. Our brief urges the Court to rehear Teixeira because the panel’s opinion disregarded the Supreme Court’s determination in Heller that laws imposing conditions on the commercial sale of firearms are presumptively lawful, and also broke with Ninth Circuit precedent by requiring the County to demonstrate that its dealer ordinance is “longstanding.”