Federal court strikes down California open carry gun ban as unconstitutional

A federal court in California on Friday struck down the state's law that prohibits people from openly carrying guns in most public places, ruling that the state law was unconstitutional because it violated the Second Amendment.

The San Francisco-based Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals cited a 2022 Supreme Court ruling that struck down a New York law that required people applying for a license to carry a concealed weapon prove they have "proper cause" to carry a gun.

The California law in question banned openly carrying guns in counties with a population greater than 200,000 people. 

The appeals court's 2-1 decision said the California case "unquestionably involves a historical practice — open carry — that predates ratification of the Bill of Rights in 1791," and that "historical record makes unmistakably plain that open carry is part of this Nation’s history and tradition."

Judge N. Randy Smith, a George W. Bush appointee who dissented from the court's majority opinion, wrote that banning openly carrying guns is constitutional because California allows weapons to be carried concealed.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.