{"id":118622,"date":"2026-01-03T10:47:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T10:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/118622\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T10:47:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T10:47:09","slug":"california-ban-on-openly-carrying-guns-is-unconstitutional-court-rules-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/118622\/","title":{"rendered":"California ban on openly carrying guns is unconstitutional, court rules"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A US appeals court ruled on Friday that California\u2019s ban on openly carrying firearms in most parts of the state was unconstitutional.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A panel of the San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals <a href=\"https:\/\/fingfx.thomsonreuters.com\/gfx\/legaldocs\/jnvwkkoqrvw\/01022026california.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:sided, opens new tab;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">sided, opens new tab<\/a> 2-1 with a gun owner in ruling that the state\u2019s prohibition against open carry in counties with more than 200,000 people violated the US Constitution\u2019s Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">About 95% of the population in California, which has had some of the nation\u2019s strictest gun-control laws, live in counties of that size.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">US Circuit Judge Lawrence VanDyke, who was appointed by Republican President Donald Trump, said the Democratic-led state\u2019s law could not stand under the US Supreme Court\u2019s 2022 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2022\/06\/23\/politics\/second-amendment-gun-rights-supreme-court-new-york-test?cid=external-feeds_iluminar_yahoo\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:landmark gun rights ruling;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">landmark gun rights ruling<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">That decision, New York State Rifle &amp; Pistol Association v Bruen, was issued by the court\u2019s 6-3 conservative super majority and established a new legal test for firearms restrictions. The test said they must be \u201cconsistent with this nation\u2019s historical tradition of firearm regulation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">VanDyke, whose opinion on Friday was joined by another Trump appointee, said the latest case \u201cunquestionably involves a historical practice \u2014 open carry \u2014 that predates ratification of the Bill of Rights in 1791.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">He noted that more than 30 states generally allow open carry. California itself allowed citizens to carry handguns openly and holstered for self-defense without penalty until 2012, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cThe historical record makes unmistakably plain that open carry is part of this Nation\u2019s history and tradition,\u201d VanDyke said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The ruling partially reversed a 2023 decision by a lower-court judge who had rejected a 2019 challenge to the law by gun owner Mark Baird.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">While the appeals court largely sided with Baird, it rejected his related challenge to California\u2019s licensing requirements in counties with fewer than 200,000 residents, which may issue open-carry permits.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Senior US Circuit Judge N. Randy Smith, who was appointed by Republican former President George W. Bush, dissented, saying his colleagues \u201cgot this case half right\u201d as all of California\u2019s restrictions complied with the Supreme Court\u2019s ruling.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A spokesperson for California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat who defended the state\u2019s ban, in a statement said his office is considering its options. \u201cWe are committed to defending California\u2019s common sense gun laws,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The 2022 Supreme Court ruling has prompted court cases nationwide challenging modern firearm restrictions, including in California.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A 9th Circuit panel in September 2024 upheld a California law that prohibits people with concealed-carry permits from carrying firearms at several categories of \u201csensitive places\u201d like bars, parks, zoos, stadiums and museums.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/account\/register?source=external-feeds_iluminar&amp;cid=external-feeds_iluminar_yahoo&amp;registration_email_campaign=https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/newsletters\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:CNN.com;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">CNN.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A US appeals court ruled on Friday that California\u2019s ban on openly carrying firearms in most parts of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[36344,62864,7,1801,9,8,62629,2214,1519],"class_list":["post-118622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-appeals-court","tag-arizona-state-capitol","tag-california","tag-california-attorney-general","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-open-carry","tag-supreme-court","tag-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}