SAN FRANCISCO – Dealing a blow to gun supporters, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday that Americans do not have a constitutional right to carry concealed weapons in public.
In a dispute that could ultimately wind up before the Supreme Court, a divided 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said local law enforcement officials can place significant restrictions on who is allowed to carry concealed guns.
In a 7-4 vote, the court upheld a California law that says applicants must supply a “good cause” to obtain a concealed-carry permit. People who are being stalked or threatened, celebrities who fear for their safety, and those who routinely carry large amounts of cash or other valuables are often given permits.
The 9th Circuit’s rulings are binding in nine Western states but not Colorado.
DETROIT – A 50-year-old driver of a pickup truck that struck a group of bicyclists, killing five of them, was charged Thursday with five counts of second-degree murder.
Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeffrey Getting also charged Charles Pickett Jr. of Battle Creek with four counts of reckless driving in the crash Tuesday that injured four others in Cooper Township north of Kalamazoo.
The bicyclists ranged in age from 40 to 74 and were part of a group that called themselves “The Chain Gang.” They were five miles into a weekly 30-mile ride when they were struck from behind on a road in the western Michigan countryside.
INDIANAPOLIS – A federal appeals court has rejected former Subway pitchman Jared Fogle’s appeal of his sentence of more than 15 years in prison, finding his arguments unpersuasive.
A three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Fogle’s appeal Thursday, affirming the 188-month sentence handed down by U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt.
Fogle pleaded guilty in November to one count each of distributing and receiving child porn and traveling to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a child. That came four months after FBI agents raided his suburban Indianapolis home in an investigation that ended Fogle’s lucrative endorsement career with Subway, which started after he lost more than 200 pounds in college, partly by eating Subway sandwiches.
WASHINGTON – The Federal Aviation Administration has ruled out requiring psychological testing for airline pilots in favor of enhanced mental health support programs in response to a crash last year in which a German pilot deliberately flew an airliner full of passengers into a mountainside, agency administrator Michael Huerta said Thursday.
Psychological tests are ineffective because they reveal a pilot’s mental health for only a moment in time without providing insight into whether the pilot will suffer problems later, Huerta told reporters at a news conference.
Instead, he announced several steps the FAA and industry are taking to encourage more voluntary self-reporting by pilots of mental health problems. Airlines and pilot unions will be encouraged to expand programs to assist pilots, including the use of “peer-to-peer” programs that connect troubled pilots with other pilots for help and make mental health hotlines available.
The agency also began additional training for aviation medical examiners earlier this year to help them spot mental health warning signs.
Associated Press
