Dom Kennedy is suing the City of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners and the LAPD.
His class-action lawsuit aims to invalidate restrictive gun laws in Los Angeles. The veteran rapper and fellow plaintiff Garry Matthews claim the city’s firearms policies are unconstitutional.
“The City’s and the Board’s and LAPD’s unconstitutional ‘no-issue’ CCW policies (concealed weapons permit) and other unconstitutional gun control laws, which were officially adopted and promulgated by the City’s policymakers, caused [Dom Kennedy and Matthews] and the other members of the Arrest Class and the Nonresident Class to be arrested and detained merely for the permissible Second Amendment conduct of carrying a handgun for general self-defense outside the home or place of business,” the plaintiffs argue.
Dom Kennedy, whose real name is Dominic Hunn, and Matthews say Los Angeles’ licensing scheme violates the Second and Fourteenth Amendments. Both men believe they were unjustly arrested in the past.
“The two key, undisputed facts in this case are that there were no actions that the Plaintiffs or the other class members could have taken during the relevant time period that would have allowed them to carry a handgun for general self-defense in the City of Los Angeles,” their lawyer Jovan Blacknell contends. “(1) the City’s Police Chief refuses to issue CCWs for the lawful Second Amendment purpose of general self-defense; and (2) the City’s Police Chief vigorously enforces laws criminalizing carrying a handgun outside the home without a CCW.”
Blacknell notes, “By adopting and following a City policy of refusing to issue CCWs for general self-defense and then by adopting and following a City policy of strictly enforcing State laws prohibiting carrying a handgun outside the home without a CCW, the City violated their Second Amendment rights, and, in the case of Mr. Mathews and the Nonresident Class, the City violated their Fourteenth Amendment rights.”
Dom Kennedy and Matthews want the gun licensing scheme to be declared unconstitutional. They seek to have their arrests – and others like them – be ruled null and void.
They also call for everyone impacted by the laws to have their arrest and prosecution records sealed.
Dom Kennedy and Matthews request damages for themselves and others affected by the laws. The two want a jury to award additional funds to cover their attorney’s fees and court costs.
