Gun Law in Puerto Rico to Respect the Second Amendment as of 1 January, 2020

By Dean Weingarten

Opinion

Arizona -(Ammoland.com)- On December 11, 2019, Governor Wanda Vázquez Garced signed Act No. 168. into law. The new law totally re-writes Puerto Rico firearms law. It is the most sweeping change in firearms law in the history of Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico came under the sovereignty of the United States in 1898, about the same time as Hawaii. Puerto Rico was ceded to the United States as the result of the Spanish-American war. In Puerto Rico, the possession of firearms has always been regarded as a privilege, not as a Constitutional Right.

Puerto Rico had one of the most restrictive firearms laws in the United States, arguably more restrictive than California, Hawaii, or New York. There were only about 225,000 legally owned firearms in Puerto Rico in 2016, giving it one of the lowest levels of legal firearm ownership in the United States, at about 6.6 legal firearms per 100 people.

Two things seem to have led to the massive reform of Puerto Rico firearms law.

• First, the actions of the United States Supreme Court in recognizing the Constitutional protections of the Second Amendment …Read the Rest

  Source:: AmmoLand