agingrebel.com
Californians may soon regain their
Second Amendment right to carry a gun. The laws and their administration
and interpretations have virtually disarmed law abiding citizens of the
nation’s most populous state. This month all that is under stack on two
front – a case before the Supreme Court and a bill introduced into the
California Assembly last week.
Since 2012, California law has forbidden
residents from openly carrying even unloaded firearms in a public
place. Concealed carry permits are issued at the discretion of county
sheriff’s and are routinely denied.
May-Shall
California is one of nine so-called
“may-issue” states along with Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland,
Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island. In may-issue
states local police may issue a concealed firearms carry licenses if
they feel like it and if the applicant shows “good cause” for wanting to
carry a gun.
In the 29 “shall-issue” states, the law
stipulates that police shall issue a concealed carry permit provided the
applicant is a resident of a stipulated age who passes a background
check and pays a fee. Some states require concealed carry permit
holders to be fingerprinted, and complete a class or demonstrate
proficiency with a gun. Citizens of those states do not have to show
good cause for wanting to carry a gun that “distinguishes” them, to use
the wording of California law, “from the mainstream and places the
applicant in harm’s way.”
Twelve states lightly regulate or do not
regulate the open or concealed carrying of firearms at all. For
example, Montana forbids carrying your concealed gun into town. Vermont,
on the other hand does not.
Generally, shall-issue states allow a
non-resident to carry a concealed firearm if he has a concealed carry
permit from another shall-issue state.
Peruta
About 70,000 people have concealed carry
permits in California. The state has a population, not counting
undocumented immigrants, of about 39 million. About half of those
permits were issued in seven of the Golden State’s 58 counties. And of
course, concealed carry permit holders visiting from other states are
forbidden to carry a loaded or unloaded firearm in California.
The California gun ban was tested in federal court in 2014 in a case titled Peruta v. San Diego.
Peruta thought the bans on both open and concealed carry violated the
Second Amendment which guarantees the right “to keep and bear arms.” A
three judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that every
citizen has a right to carry a weapon. But the case was then
reconsidered by the entire appeals court which ruled last June that
“there is no Second Amendment right for members of the general public to
carry concealed firearms in public.”
The Supreme Court agreed last September to hear an appeal of the Peruta
ruling and to date 26 states have filed friends of the court briefs on
behalf of the people’s right to be armed. The most recent, yesterday,
was Kentucky whose governor, Matt Bevin, said in a press release: “As
states and individuals, we must stand united against arbitrary
government overreach and this unconstitutional attack on the Second
Amendment. In America, our freedom and liberty have been purchased at a
great price. We must do everything in our power to preserve them for the
generations yet to come.”
Melendez
Last week, a California Assemblywoman
named Melissa Melendez introduced Assembly Bill 757 which would change
California to a shall-issue state. “It is our Constitutional right to
defend ourselves,” Melendez said in her press release. “Californians
should not be subjugated to the personal beliefs of one individual who
doesn’t believe in the Second Amendment. If a citizen passes the
background check and completes the necessary safety training
requirements, there should be no reason to deny them a CCW.”
“Equal protection under the law applies
to more than just illegal immigrants and liberal college students,”
Melendez said. “The Constitution enumerates the right to own a gun; it
is not a privilege only to be granted to a select few.”
“Our current system of issuing concealed
carry permits is not equal. It comes down to being lucky enough to live
in a county where the Sheriff believes in upholding the Second
Amendment.”
