A US appeals court reportedly ruled on Friday that a ban on openly carrying firearms in most parts of California was unconstitutional.
According to reutersthe San Francisco-based Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruling, cited a recent US Supreme Court decision and said the ban violates Californians’ Second Amendment rights and conflicts with “this Nation’s history and tradition.”
A panel of the San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals reportedly sided 2-1 with a gun owner in ruling that the state’s prohibition against open carry in counties with more than 200,000 people violated the US Constitution’s Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.
US Circuit Judge Lawrence VanDyke, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, said the Democratic-led state’s law could not stand under the US Supreme Court’s 2022 landmark gun rights ruling.
What happened in court on Friday?
VanDyke, whose opinion on Friday was joined by another Trump appointee, said the latest case “unquestionably involves a historical practice — open carry — that predates ratification of the Bill of Rights in 1791.”
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.
“The historical record makes unmistakeably plain that open carry is part of this Nation’s history and tradition,” VanDyke was quoted by reuters as saying.
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.
While the appeals court largely sided with Baird, it rejected his related challenge to California’s licensing requirements in counties with fewer than 200,000 residents, which may issue open-carry permits.
Senior US Circuit Judge N. Randy Smith, who was appointed by Republican former President George W. Bush, dissented, saying his colleagues “got this case half right” as all of California’s restrictions complied with the Supreme Court’s ruling.
A spokesperson for California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat who defended the state’s ban, in a statement said his office is considering its options.
“We are committed to defending California’s common sense gun laws,” the spokesperson said.
The 2022 Supreme Court ruling prompted court cases nationwide challenging modern firearm restrictions, including in California.
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 “sensitive places” like bars, parks, zoos, stadiums and museums.
