“We are going to fight this fight for a long time“, said Sam Paredes, executive director of the Gun Owners of California. “And the 9 Circuit’s ruling in Peruta should give pause to activists who think they can use the courts to vindicate a right that never existed in the first place”.
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A federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled that California counties may impose restrictions on the issuance of concealed carry permits. It might not the end of the debate, but the issue invites a more immediate question: Who will decide the critical ninth justice, Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump?
Advocates of gun rights and gun control reacted in character to the ruling, with the National Rifle Association calling it “out of touch” and California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein calling it “a significant victory for public safety”.
In a one-page order, the three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit agreed to expedite the case with final briefs due in early August.
The Bill of Rights, wrote Judge William A. Fletcher for the 7-4 majority, “does not preserve or protect a right of a member of the general public to carry concealed firearms in public”.
He calls her “the most anti-gun, anti-Second Amendment candidate ever to run for office”.
The majority of states allow open carry of a handgun such as in a visibly exposed belt holster without a permit. San Diego collected applications under the looser restrictions, but didn’t act on them while awaiting the court’s to sort out the issue. The plaintiffs in this case don’t have a specific reason to fear for their safety in public; they just really want to carry their guns around. “Some form of open carry of firearms must be allowed”, he wrote.
The 9th Circuit covers nine Western states, but California and Hawaii are the only ones in which the ruling will have any practical effect.
But Adam Winkler, a professor at UCLA Law School, doubted that the law would be vulnerable.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit made the ruling.
Whether the court does or does not take the case, the early 2016 death of Scalia looms large over it. Scalia authored Heller, the most substantial gun ruling in modern history of the court. “The NRA forces are certainly weaker right now”.
The Ninth Circuit case centered on a challenge to California’s “good cause” law. In both counties, the sheriffs said concern for one’s perennial safety is not alone justification for receiving a concealed carry permit.
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To obtain a concealed-carry permit in Arizona, applicants must be an Arizona or USA resident who is at least 21 (19 with proof of military service). Owners of businesses that are frequently robbed typically do receive permits. 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.
