Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks California Gun Law That Bans Concealed Carry In Most Public Places

A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked California from enacting a law barring permit holders from carrying firearms in numerous public locations.

United States District Judge Cormac Carney of the Central District of California, appointed by former President George W. Bush, issued a temporary restraining order, halting the law from taking effect on Jan. 1, The Associated Press reported. “The right to self-defense and to defend one’s family is fundamental and inherent to our very humanity irrespective of any formal codification,” Carney wrote in his ruling.

“For many years, the right to bear arms, and so necessarily the right to self-defense, was relegated to second-class status,” Carney added. “But the United States Supreme Court made clear in its landmark decisions District of Columbia v. Heller, McDonald v. City of Chicago, and New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Incorporated v. Bruen that relegation could no longer be permitted—individuals must be able to effectuate their right to self-defense by, if they so choose, responsibly bearing arms.”

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California signed SB2 into law on Sept. 26, calling the June 2022 ruling in Bruen “a perversion.” The legislation contains vast restrictions on where concealed weapons permit holders are allowed to carry firearms. “SB2’s coverage is sweeping, repugnant to the Second Amendment and openly defiant of the Supreme Court,” Carney wrote.

“The law designates twenty-six categories of places, such as hospitals, public transportation, places that sell liquor for on-site consumption, playgrounds, parks, casinos, stadiums, libraries, amusement parks, zoos, places of worship, and banks, as ‘sensitive places’ where concealed carry permitholders cannot carry their handguns,” Carney added. “SB2 turns nearly every public place in California into a ‘sensitive place,’ effectively abolishing the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding and exceptionally qualified citizens to be armed and to defend themselves in public.”

Newsom proposed a 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in June that would enshrine some of California’s stringent gun laws in the document, including a ban on certain semi-automatic firearms, a waiting period and universal background checks.

Newsom did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.