USA (Parliament Politics Magazine) – A US appeals court ruled that California’s ban on openly carrying firearms in most public places violates constitutional protections under federal law.
The state’s ban on open carry in counties with a population of more than 200,000 violates the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, according to a panel of the San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which decided 2-1 with a gun owner.
Counties of that size are home to around 95% of the people in California, which has some of the harshest gun prohibitions in the country.
Republican President Donald Trump selected US Circuit Judge Lawrence VanDyke, who ruled that the Democratic-led state’s legislation was unconstitutional in light of the US Supreme Court’s historic gun rights decision from 2022.
The court’s 6-3 conservative super majority in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen created a new legal standard for gun control. They have to be
“consistent with this nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation,”
according to the criteria.
Another Trump appointee joined VanDyke’s opinion on Friday, stating that the most recent case
“unquestionably involves a historical practice of open carry that predates ratification of the Bill of Rights in 1791.”
He pointed out that open carry is typically permitted in over 30 states. According to him, before 2012, California itself did not impose any penalties on its people who carried firearms in public or holstered for self-defense.
“The historical record makes unmistakably plain that open carry is part of this Nation’s history and tradition,”
VanDyke said.
The verdict largely overturned a lower court judge’s 2023 finding that had dismissed gun owner Mark Baird’s 2019 challenge to the statute.
The appeals court rejected Baird’s related challenge to California’s licensing rules in counties with fewer than 200,000 population, which may provide open-carry licenses, even though it mostly supported Baird.
In a statement, a representative for California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat who supported the state’s ban, said his agency is weighing its options.
The 2022 Supreme Court decision has sparked legal challenges to contemporary firearm restrictions around the country, especially in California.
“We are committed to defending California’s common sense gun laws,”
the spokesperson said.
In September 2024, a panel of the 9th Circuit affirmed a California statute that forbids anyone with concealed carry permits from carrying firearms in a number of “sensitive places,” including bars.
What does the Ninth Circuit ruling mean for California gun laws going forward?
The Ninth Circuit’s January 2, 2026, ruling in Baird v. Bonta strikes down California’s ban on open carry in vibrant counties( over 200,000 residents), affecting 95% of the state, but leaves concealed carry licensing complete in those areas.
The decision authorizations instruction of Penal Code sections proscribing loaded disburdened open carry statewide except remote areas, taking officers to reuse permits aligning with literal traditions; California AG Rob Bonta must misbehave pending appeal, potentially allowing holstered handguns in civic zones like LA and SF after six- month detainments for rulemaking.
Post-Bruen scrutiny intensifies on CA’s” sensitive places” expansions and may waterfall to challenges against assault armament bans, magazine limits, and canon restrictions, as the panel emphasized open carry’s Founding- period norm over ultramodern crime circumlocutions.