State Law Barring Guns From Public Places To Go Into Effect After Appeals Court Ruling

(USNewsMag.com) – A new California law that bars almost all gun owners from carrying a gun in most public spaces went into effect Jan. 1, after a federal appeals court put a temporary injunction on hold Dec. 30.

In September, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the law, which prohibits gun owners from carrying firearms in 26 types of “sensitive” places, such as churches, playgrounds and banks, even if they had a permit. The law also prohibits gun owners from carrying a firearm into a privately owned business that is open to the public, such as a restaurant, unless the business owner posts a sign stating that concealed guns are allowed.

Gun rights groups, including the Second Amendment Foundation, the Firearms Policy Coalition and the Gun Owners of America, along with a group of concealed carry permit holders then sued, stating the new law is unconstitutional.

On Dec. 20, U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney issued a temporary injunction pending the outcome of the lawsuit, stating the law was “openly defiant of the Supreme Court.” The new law, Carney stated, “turns nearly every public place in California into a ‘sensitive place.’”

Following Carney’s ruling, California Secretary of State Rob Bonta said the state would appeal.

The Dec. 30 stay of the temporary injunction by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will remain in place until another panel of judges from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules if a longer hold on the law is necessary.

Newsom said the Dec. 30 ruling allows the state’s “common-sense gun laws to remain in place” while the state appeals “the district court’s dangerous ruling.”

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 2022 against a similar law in New York that attempted to limit the concealed carry of firearms. The ruling by the Supreme Court expanded gun rights across the nation, stating that gun laws must be “consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.” Democrats in California insist the new law complies with the Supreme Court’s ruling.