By C1 Staff
WASHINGTON — A federal judge dismissed four former correctional officers’ lawsuit for the right to carry without requiring state licenses on a technicality.
The Washington Times reports that U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras encouraged the officers to pursue the matter through administrative means or the D.C. Superior Court. The officers plan to do so, along with appealing the judge’s decision.
The officers are arguing that the D.C. Department of Corrections unfairly denied them the documentation they needed to prove to licensing entities in the District and Maryland that they were “qualified retired law enforcement officers” who were allowed to carry under the federal Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act.
Contreras wrote that the correctional officers had wrongly asserted a right to certification as qualified officers who were eligible to carry, rather than a right to carry a firearm under the federal law.
The judge made no determination as to whether DOC officials were correct to reject the correctional officers’ assertions that they were “qualified law enforcement officers.”
The DOC has maintained that D.C. law does not give correctional officers law enforcement status and arrest authority.