Edward Peruta applied for a permit to carry a concealed gun in San Diego County in 2009, but officials rejected his application, saying he did not provide enough evidence that he needed one, court documents show. The court is headquartered in San Francisco and is the largest of the 13 courts of appeals. It affirmed 7-4 Thursday. “But the existence vel non of such a right, and the scope of such a right, are separate from and independent of the question presented here”. “If there is such a right, it is only a right to carry a firearm openly”.
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Federal judges in California ruled gun owners in the Golden State do not have a constitutional right to hide carry their firearm.
An 11-judge panel took up the case after California Attorney General Kamala Harris asked for reconsideration of the earlier panel’s ruling that any responsible, law-abiding citizen is entitled under the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment to carry a hidden, loaded gun in public for self-defense.
Writing for the majority on Thursday, Judge William Fletcher cited numerous bans on carrying concealed weapons issued throughout US history as well as English history dating back to the 13th century. “However, it does not appear that California’s sheriffs are exercising this discretion in a rational way”.
Eidsmoe added, “The decision runs contrary to the plain wording of the Second Amendment, which guarantees the right, not just to “keep” arms, but also to “bear” arms”. It says “the right of the individual citizen to bear arms in defense or himself or the state shall not be impaired, ” with no reference to things like a well-regulated militia that exists in the Second Amendment. “Like the rest of the Bill of Rights, this right is indisputably constitutional in stature and part of this country’s bedrock”. He did not immediately return a request for comment Friday. Callahan, based in Sacramento, was one of a two-judge majority on the 2014 circuit panel that reversed the district judges.
“They won’t say what “good cause” is because there would be people who actually have good cause and would be issued permits”, Mitchell said.
Thursday’s majority opinion traced the rights of gun owners from medieval England to the founding of the United States and through the Civil War, finding that local laws nearly universally prohibited carrying concealed firearms in public. The opinion is binding only in the Western states covered by the 9th Circuit (Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington). Because other appellate courts remain divided on concealed weapon issues, it’s become increasingly likely the high court will take up the matter.
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“I think it’s a reasonable policy”. Dealing a blow to gun supporters, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday, June 9, 2016, that Americans do not have a constitutional right to carry concealed weapons in public.
