Judge Legg is a very fair Judge, in that he does not rule by his own political leanings. He rules on what is before him.
In this case, the Judge did his homework. You can see this in doc #42 (dated July 19, 2011), where he lays out the questions he wants the parties to answer in the upcoming Summary Judgment Hearing. That hearing was held on July 21st. The transcript of the hearing was posted (presumably by Alan Gura) on August 25th (doc #44).
While the transcript is about 77 pages, you should read it to get an idea of what this judge is about.
Unlike the other District Judges, Judge Legg actually did what
Heller demanded: He did the required historical research on what the amendment meant at the time it was ratified, and placed the context of "bear" within the context of "self defense." He didn't just use the specific remedy of
Heller to justify a lame and inexcusable result, as so many of the other courts have done.
Using the guidance of the 4th Circuit in both
Chester and
Masciandaro, Judge Legg used a true Intermediate Scrutiny and found that the right to carry beyond the home was only a step away from where self defense is most acute, the home.
Whatever his leaning, there was only one outcome after that.
What is happening now, is that the Judge is dotting his "I's" and crossing his "T's" in order to have his ruling survive anything the 4th can throw at it. Procedural correctness, if you will.
The docket and the referenced docs, is here:
http://www.archive.org/download/gov....72.docket.html