US federal judge blocks California law barring guns in public
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[December 21, 2023]
By Brad Brooks
(Reuters) - A California law that would have banned the carrying of guns
in most public places as of Jan. 1 was temporarily blocked by a federal
judge on Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney of the Central District of California
wrote in his preliminary injunction that the law would
"unconstitutionally deprive" concealed carry permit holders "of their
constitutional right to carry a handgun in public for self-defense."
The California law, Carney wrote, "is sweeping, repugnant to the Second
Amendment, and openly defiant of the Supreme Court."
California's Attorney General Rob Bonta, who was listed in his official
capacity as the defendant in the lawsuit, said in a statement that his
office would appeal the decision.
Bonta wrote that if the ruling stands, it "would endanger communities by
allowing guns in places where families and children gather."
California Governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement that he would
continue pushing for more gun laws, and that the federal court's
decision "green lights the proliferation of guns in our hospitals,
libraries, and children's playgrounds - spaces which should be safe for
all."
Signed into law in September, the measure would ban concealed carry
permit holders from carrying guns in 26 different categories of
"sensitive places" such as hospitals, playgrounds, stadiums, zoos and
places of worship.
The law "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," Carney wrote.
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![](../images/122123PIX/news_q22.jpg)
Students from Miguel Contreras Learning Center high school in Los
Angeles demonstrate in front of City Hall after walking out of
school to protest U.S. gun violence, California, U.S., May 31, 2022.
REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File Photo
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The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution enshrines the right of
citizens "to keep and bear arms."
The interpretation of exactly what that entails has been the source
of intense debate and legal action within the U.S. for decades. Gun
violence has been the No. 1 cause of death for children in the U.S.
since 2020, and the U.S. has by far the highest rate of gun deaths
among rich countries.
In issuing his decision, the judge pointed out recent landmark
rulings of the Supreme Court that expanded gun rights.
Those Supreme Court decisions, Carney wrote, make it clear that
"individuals must be able to effectuate their right to self-defense
by, if they so choose, responsibly bearing arms."
Chuck Michel, president of the California Rifle & Pistol Association
which filed the lawsuit to block the law, said in a statement that
the measure was another example of the state's politicians refusing
to accept Supreme Court rulings upholding the right to carry guns.
"The court saw through the state's gambit," Michel wrote.
(Reporting by Brad Brooks in Longmont, Colorado; Editing by Stephen
Coates)
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