A federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled that California counties may impose restrictions on the issuance of concealed carry permits.
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California gun owners may have some trouble getting a concealed carry permit depending on the county in which they live.
Instead, the court ruled, it is up to states to restrict or allow individuals to carry concealed weapons. The main advantage of such a permit is the ability to have a concealed weapon in other states which have reciprocity agreements with Arizona.
In Los Angeles, however, walking outside your home with a concealed gun remains illegal unless authorities have decided you have “good cause” to carry.
The National Rifle Association, which has endorsed Trump, called the majority decision “shameful”.
“I feel that’s it’s my right as a U.S. Citizen to carry a handgun”.
Gun rights groups blasted the judicial panel’s ruling that found no Second Amendment right to carry a concealed firearm in public – and pledged to fight on in the courts as well as at the ballot box.
“Until quite recently … there was a near-universal consensus among courts and legislatures that America’s Constitution, historical practices, and legal traditions do not create a right to carry concealed arms in public”, Stern writes in his piece. To a voting public that includes almost 13 million people with concealed-carry permits, it will certainly matter on Election Day.
Damon Thueson shows a holster at a gun concealed carry permit class put on by “USA Firearms Training” on December 19, 2015 in Provo, Utah. But the issue highlights how the presidential election and the subsequent brawl over the open high-court seat will indeed have major ramifications for the future of the Second Amendment.
By a vote of 7-4, the court upheld a California law that says applicants must cite a “good cause” to obtain a concealed-carry permit. “The court noted that concealed carry was not guaranteed under English common law but ignored Madison’s observation in Federalist No. 46 that unlike most European kingdoms, in America the prevalence of firearms was the primary defense of freedom against tyranny”. The ruling does not create a substantive divide among different circuit courts in the US, one of the major factors the court considers in weighing which cases to take.
This puts on hold U.S. District Judge Richard Leon’s ruling last month that the requirement is likely an infringement on the right to bear arms.
11 judges of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has said that law enforcement can demand applicants for weapons being concealed to show they are in grave danger.
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In any event, the 9th Circuit carries a reputation as the most overturned court of appeals in the country. California’s Attorney General, Kamala Harris, appealed their ruling, resulting in Thursday’s decision.
