(UnitedVoice.com) – California has some of the strictest gun laws in the US. Still, the state’s liberal legislators are not satisfied. Lawmakers keep passing more and more laws that restrict the Second Amendment rights of residents in the state. That includes Senate Bill 2, which prohibits people with concealed carry permits from legally carrying their firearms in a whole host of places.
Governor Gavin Newsom (D) signed the legislation into law last September. Now, it’s at the center of a legal back-and-forth. The most recent ruling prohibits the law from being enforced — a win for Second Amendment advocates.
What Does SB 2 Do?
Senate Bill 2 changes the state’s concealed carry law in a number of ways. It sets the minimum age for a concealed carry permit to 21 years old. It also adds more training requirements and prohibits firearms owners from carrying their weapons in sensitive public places.
The list of places where people are not allowed to legally carry their firearms is incredibly long, with 26 locations, including playgrounds, public parks, churches, banks, and zoos, to name a few.
Gun Organizations Sue
Gun rights organizations sued California shortly after lawmakers voted to approve SB2. The California Rifle & Pistol Association, National Rifle Association, and others filed suit. The San Francisco Chronicle reported attorney Konstadinos Moros, one of the lawyers involved in suits against the law, said it would “eviscerate the very right to be armed in public” that the Constitution secures.
Opponents argued the law prohibits legal gun owners from carrying their firearms almost everywhere. They’d be allowed to carry them on the streets and sidewalks, but only if they aren’t next to so-called “sensitive places.”
Moros said the law creates such a patchwork of places where firearms are and aren’t allowed that it makes the “exercise of the right so impractical and legally risky” that gun owners will be deterred from exercising their rights.
Court Places Injunction On Law
On December 20, US District Judge Cormac Carney issued a preliminary injunction against the California law. He blocked it from taking effect while legal challenges played out in court. The judge said the law was “openly defiant of the Supreme Court.”
State Attorney General Rob Bonta appealed the ruling to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. On December 30, a panel of justices reversed Carney’s decision and allowed the law to take effect on January 1. But that’s not where it ended.
In a twist, another 9th Circuit panel decided to reinstate the injunction. That’s where the law currently stands. The state will not be allowed to enforce SB 2 while challenges against it play out in court.
Copyright 2024, UnitedVoice.com
