Dom Kennedy Sues LAPD Over 'Unconstitutional' Gun Laws That Led To His Arrest

Los Angeles, CA – Dom Kennedy is reportedly suing the City of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners and the Los Angeles Police Department, according to AllHipHop. The Los Angeles rapper and fellow plaintiff Garry Matthews claim the city’s firearms policies are “unconstitutional,” with their class-action lawsuit aiming to invalidate restrictive gun laws in Los Angeles.

“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 lawsuit reads.

Dom Kennedy and Garry Matthews are requesting damages for themselves and others impacted by the laws, and want a jury to provide funds to pay for their court costs and attorney fees. In addition, they want their arrests and others to be ruled null and void.

Their lawyer Jovan Blacknell adds, “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. (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.

“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 released his latest album From the Westside with Love Three in October 2021, which served as the follow-up to 2011’s debut album, From the Westside with Love, II.