Court Halts Enforcement of California’s Ban on Public Firearms

(LibertySons.org) – In 2022, the US Supreme Court issued a ruling in the case of the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen. The decision struck down a century-old firearm law and expanded Second Amendment rights. The next year, California passed Senate Bill 2 to counter the court’s ruling. Now, the law has been put on hold for the second time.

On January 1, SB2 took effect after a panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals dissolved a December 20 injunction that was supposed to prevent the law from going into effect. The legislation blocks people from carrying guns in most public places, including playgrounds, zoos, banks, churches, and about two dozen other places. Just days after the law went into effect, another panel for the 9th Circuit once again blocked it.

US District Judge Cormac Carney granted a preliminary injunction that stopped the law from taking effect on December 20. The judge, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush, said the legislation was “sweeping, repugnant to the Second Amendment” and displayed open defiance of the Supreme Court.” The legislation was, in fact, passed in opposition to the SCOTUS’ Breun ruling. State Senator Anthony J. Partentino (D) said as much in a press release after Governor Gavin Newsom (D) signed the bill into law last year.

Ten days after Carney issued the injunction, a three-judge panel for the 9th Circuit suspended his ruling, allowing the law to take effect while the state appealed the December decision. That didn’t last long. A second panel from the 9th Circuit reinstated the preliminary injunction.

Arguments in the case are set for April. California Attorney General Rob Bonta is arguing that allowing more guns into “sensitive places makes the public less safe.” Opponents say the law is too broad. Attorney C.D. Michel, who is representing the California Rifle & Pistol Association, said gun owners with concealed carry permits have been able to “carry in all of [the] places” the law prohibits “for decades.”

~Here’s to Our Liberty!