California Ban On Openly Carrying Guns Is Unconstitutional, Court Rules
On January 2, a U.S. appeals court made a significant ruling, declaring California’s ban on openly carrying firearms in most parts of the state to be unconstitutional.
The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, sided with a gun owner, stating that the state’s prohibition against open carry in counties with more than 200,000 residents violated the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.
Approximately 95% of California’s population lives in counties of that size, making this ruling impactful in the state with some of the strictest gun-control laws in the nation.
U.S. Circuit Judge Lawrence VanDyke, appointed by President Donald Trump, referenced a recent landmark gun rights ruling by the Supreme Court in 2022, which established a new legal test for firearms restrictions based on the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.
VanDyke highlighted that open carry is a historical practice predating the Bill of Rights in 1791 and emphasized that more than 30 states generally allow open carry. He noted that California itself permitted open carry until 2012.
The ruling partially reversed a lower-court decision from 2023 and rejected a challenge to California’s licensing requirements for open carry permits in smaller counties.
While the appeals court largely supported the gun owner’s case, Senior U.S. Circuit Judge N. Randy Smith dissented, arguing that California’s restrictions were in compliance with the Supreme Court’s ruling.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who defended the state’s ban, expressed that his office is exploring options to uphold the state’s gun laws despite the court’s decision.
The 2022 Supreme Court ruling has sparked a series of court cases nationwide challenging modern firearm restrictions, including in California.
In a separate case in September 2024, a 9th Circuit panel upheld a California law prohibiting concealed-carry permit holders from carrying firearms in certain “sensitive places.”
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Cynthia Osterman)
