Firearm
owners have no constitutional right to carry a concealed gun in public, a
divided U.S. appeals court in California ruled on Thursday, upholding the right
of officials to only grant permits to those facing a specific danger.
The decision by the 9th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals, a victory for gun control advocates which sets a
legal precedent in western states, was seen as unlikely to be reviewed by the
U.S. Supreme Court in the near future.
The San Francisco-based court,
in a 7-4 decision, found California's San Diego and Yolo counties did not
violate the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which protects the right
to bear arms, when they denied some applicants a concealed firearm license.
"We hold that the Second
Amendment does not protect, in any degree, the carrying of concealed firearms
by members of the general public," Judge William Fletcher wrote in a
52-page opinion.
Sheriffs in the two California
counties had limited their permits to applicants showing "good cause"
to be armed, such as documented threats or working in a wide range of risky
occupations.
The ruling places the 9th
Circuit Court in line with other U.S. appellate courts that have upheld the
right of officials in the states of New York, Maryland and New Jersey to deny
concealed carry applications in certain cases.
The U.S. Supreme Court in
2013, in the middle of a raging national debate on guns, declined to weigh in
on whether firearm owners have a constitutional right to carry concealed guns.
The 9th Circuit Court's
opinion noted the Supreme Court had not answered the question of whether the
Second Amendment ensures a right to carry firearms openly, as opposed to
concealed under clothing.
In a dissenting opinion, Judge
Consuelo Callahan wrote that her colleagues on the 9th Circuit had gone too
far. "The Second Amendment is not a 'second class' amendment," she
wrote.
Under California's concealed
carry law, more than 70,000 residents or less than 1 percent of the state's population
had active permits last year, according to the Center for Investigative
Reporting.
California Attorney General
Kamala Harris applauded the ruling while Chuck Michel, president of gun rights
group the California Rifle and Pistol Association, criticized it.
"This decision will leave
good people defenseless, as it completely ignores the fact that law-abiding
Californians who reside in counties with hostile sheriffs will now have no
means to carry a firearm outside the home for personal protection," Michel
said in a statement.
If plaintiffs appeal, the
Supreme Court may refrain from reviewing the case because other U.S. circuit
courts have also upheld certain requirements for concealed carry permits, said
University of California, Los Angeles, law professor Adam Winkler in an email.
The decision by the full 9th
Circuit reversed a 2-1 decision in 2014 by a panel of the appellate court that
found California residents have an inherent right to a concealed weapon for
self defense.
(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis;
Editing by Richard Chang and Tom Brown)
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