BELLEVUE, WA – The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed an earlier order which put a hold on a lower court ruling that blocked California’s new law prohibiting concealed carry in most public places, handing a significant victory to gun rights groups including the Second Amendment Foundation.
The law had been blocked by U.S. District Court Judge Cormac J. Carney, who declared the statute “repugnant to the Second Amendment, and openly defiant of the Supreme Court.” The case is known as May v. Bonta.
“This is a major win for California gun owners and the Second Amendment,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “It is a definite wake-up call to anti-gun Gov. Gavin Newsom and his Democrat colleagues in the California legislature who pushed through the ‘sensitive places’ law as a way of thumbing their nose at the Supreme Court, as well as the Constitution.”
Joining SAF in its case are Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners Foundation, Gun Owners of California, Liberal Gun Owners Association, the California Rifle & Pistol Association and eleven private citizens. They are represented by attorneys C.D. Michel, Sean A. Brady and Konstadinos T. Moros at Michel & Associates in Long Beach, and Donald Kilmer, Law Offices of Don Kilmer, Caldwell, Idaho.
“Judge Carney correctly sees California’s law as an affront to the Constitution,” said SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut. “We’re delighted the Ninth Circuit Court will allow his order, blocking the law to remain in effect. We certainly expect to prevail.”
The “sensitive places” law was California’s response to the 2022 Supreme Court ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which established new parameters on handling and deciding Second Amendment cases.