California Seeks to Invalidate 9th Circuit Win for Conceal-Carry Guns Rights

On February 13 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit invalidated a San Diego County, California requirement which allowed for the issuance of conceal-carry gun permits, but only when the gun owner had "good cause" to carry a concealed weapon. And according to county officials, "one's personal safety is not considered good cause." That restriction, the 9th Circuit ruled, eliminated "the only way that the typical responsible, law-abiding citizen can carry a weapon in public for the lawful purpose of self-defense," and therefore amounted to an unconstitutional infringement on the Second Amendment.

In a petition filed yesterday, California Attorney General Kamala Harris has urged the 9th Circuit to wipe that gun rights ruling off the books. "This case adopts a theory of the Second Amendment with sweeping implications for the constitutional permissibility of hitherto routine state and local regulation of the public carrying of dangerous weapons," the California petition argues, and it also "inappropriately discounts legislative policy judgments to which it should defer."

Harris is seeking what's known as en banc review, meaning the state of California has requested that a full panel of 9th Circuit judges reconsider the case (this month's ruling was by a 3-judge panel). Should the 9th Circuit refuse to review en banc, the state's next move would be a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to step in and overturn the ruling.