California’s law-abiding Second Amendment community received welcome news earlier this month when the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the state’s almost blanket ban on open carry unconstitutional.
Judge Lawrence VanDyke articulated the court’s conclusion.
“For most of American history, open carry has been the default manner of lawful carry for firearms,” VanDyke wrote in Baird v. Bonta. “It remains the norm across the country—more than 30 states generally allow open carry to this day, including states with significant urban populations. Indeed, several of our Nation’s largest cities and states recently returned to unlicensed open carry by explicitly authorizing it. Similarly, for the first 162 years of its history, open carry was a largely unremarkable part of daily life in California.”
AG used inflammatory rhetoric to smear the freely exercising gun rights
This sound reasoning did not sit well with Attorney General Rob Bonta (D). The anti-2A crusader is never shy in expressing his belief that the Second Amendment is a nuisance that must be overcome.
“This is beyond concerning; it is deeply wrong,” Bonta claimed. “Allowing the open carry of firearms in densely populated counties creates unnecessary anxiety, terrorizes children, and instills fear throughout our communities.
California already harasses gun owners as if the Second Amendment did not exist
Children are not being “terrorized” by law-abiding adults openly carrying firearms. Bonta’s fantastical claim is just a smokescreen to defend the blatant violation of constitutional rights, and the AG added that the ruling must be reconsidered due to “fear” and “chaos” that will result.
Following 2022’s Supreme Court Bruen decision, which greatly reestablished the right to carry outside the home, California lawmakers did their best to circumvent the ruling.
Open carry was banned for all residents except those living in counties with a population of fewer than 200,000. This covers 95% of the state and amounts to a blanket prohibition.
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