California prevented from banning guns in public by US Appeals Court

SACRAMENTO, California: A federal appeals court has affirmed a judge’s ruling that prevents California from enforcing a new law that bans the carrying of guns in most public areas.

An order by a different 9th Circuit panel from a week earlier, which suspended an injunction issued by a judge who concluded the state’s law violated the right of citizens to keep and bear arms under the US Constitution’s Second Amendment, was dissolved by the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals.

California’s appeal of the injunction will now be heard in April.

In court papers, California’s attorney-general argued that if the law was blocked, “tens of millions of Californians will face a heightened risk of gun violence.”

Daniel Villaseor, spokesperson for Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, who signed the measure into law in September, said, “This dangerous decision puts the lives of Californians on the line.”

The law was implemented after a landmark ruling in June 2022 by the conservative-majority US Supreme Court that expanded gun rights nationwide.

According to California’s new law, Senate Bill 2, regardless of whether they had permits to carry concealed weapons, people cannot carry concealed guns in 26 categories of “sensitive places,” such as hospitals, playgrounds, stadiums, zoos, and places of worship.

It also bans people from carrying concealed guns at privately owned commercial establishments that are open to the public unless their owners post a sign allowing license holders to carry guns on the property.

On December 20, US District Judge Cormac Carney sided with permit holders and groups, including the Firearms Policy Coalition, Second Amendment Foundation, and Gun Owners of America, agreeing that the law violated the Second Amendment.