US appeals court strikes down California open-carry gun ban
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A federal appeals court on Friday struck down California’s ban on openly carrying guns in much of the state.
According to Reuters, the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a 2-1 decision that California’s ban on open carry in counties with more than 200,000 people (covering about 95% of the state’s population) violates the Second Amendment.
U.S. Circuit Judge Lawrence VanDyke, writing for the majority, said the ban was based on the Supreme Court’s decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. He said it contradicted a 2022 ruling he filed in the Bruen case that required gun regulations to be consistent with the country’s “historic tradition of firearm regulation.”
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U.S. Circuit Judge Lawrence VanDyke appears in a video released by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on March 20, 2025. (9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals/Memorandum via Reuters)
“The historical record makes clear that open carry is part of the history and tradition of this Nation,” VanDyke wrote. “It was clearly protected at the time of its founding and at the time of the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment.”
VanDyke also noted that California previously allowed residents to openly carry holstered handguns for self-defense with impunity until 2012.
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A gun is hidden in the belt. (iStock)
“This only changed when California enacted its urban open carry ban in 2012, more than a decade ago,” he said. “In doing so, California joins a small minority of states that have adopted such severe restrictions on open carry.”
According to Reuters, the ruling overturned part of a lower court’s 2023 ruling that dismissed gun owner Mark Baird’s lawsuit in 2019 and denied his appeal to issue open carry licenses in smaller counties.
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A retail store in San Ramon, California, July 21, 2019. (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)
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In October, the National Rifle Association (NRA) and other gun groups announced they were suing California over the state’s ban on Glock-style guns having features known as switches that allow them to be converted into fully automatic weapons.
The NRA was joined by the Firearms Policy Coalition, the Second Amendment Foundation, Poway Guns and Equipment and two NRA members in challenging the state’s ban.
Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion contributed to this report.
