California lawmakers have reintroduced a bill aimed at limiting permits for carrying concealed guns in public places in response to a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year that such laws are overly restrictive and violate the constitutional right to bear arms.
The bill's author, Sen. Anthony Portantino, D-Burbank, is expected to join Gov. Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Rob Bonta and other Democratic lawmakers and gun restriction advocates Wednesday morning to "announce new efforts to advance critical gun safety legislation."
Portantino's office had no immediate comment Wednesday morning.
The announcement comes after an eruption of gun violence last month in a state with the most extensive gun restrictions in the country, including mass shootings that killed 11 in Monterey Park and seven in Half Moon Bay. The gunmen in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay were not reported to be concealed weapon permit holders.
Gun rights advocates have been expecting the revised bill and are prepared to fight it. Brandon Combs, president of the Firearms Policy Coalition, said last month in anticipation of the new state bill that to follow the Supreme Court's guidance, "if you can pass a background check, you're entitled to a carry permit and within a reasonable time frame."
The U.S. Supreme Court last year in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association vs. Kevin P. Bruen, New York State Police Superintendent, said laws with discretionary, subjective standards for concealed weapon permits violate Second Amendment gun rights.
The court majority in particular took issue with the New York law's requirement that permit applicants demonstrate a need to be armed in public, saying that "to confine the right to 'bear' arms to the home would nullify half of the Second Amendment's operative protections." They noted citizens aren't required to show a special need for their other constitutional rights.
The justices noted in the decision that it effectively only applies to a handful of jurisdictions — New York, California, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and the the District of Columbia — with similar concealed carry laws that authorities "may issue" a permit at their discretion. Most states, the court noted, say authorities "shall issue" a permit to applicants not otherwise barred from possessing weapons, or simply allow so-called "constitutional carry" without a permit for those allowed to have guns.
On Monday, Florida lawmakers introduced legislation that would make the Sunshine State the 26th in the U.S. to allow residents to carry guns without a permit as long as they are not prohibited from having them. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, seen as a potential future presidential rival to Newsom, is in support.
In the wake of the ruling, California and other states with more restrictive laws have scrambled to rewrite them in a way that would still severely restrict concealed gun permits to the extent allowable under the Supreme Court's decision.
The Supreme Court did note for example the longstanding lawfulness of forbidding firearms in sensitive public places like schools and government buildings, legislative assemblies, polling places, and courthouses. The justices declined to "comprehensively define" what other places might be included, but said New York defined them "far too broadly," in a way that "would in effect exempt cities from the Second Amendment."
Lower courts already have pushed back on others states' attempts to maintain broad concealed weapon permits. For example, a judge in November issued a preliminary injunction against New York's rewritten law that sought to ban permitted weapons from private property without the owner's express consent.
Combs said in an interview last month anticipating the legislation that he's confident federal courts will strike down a California law if it's subjective or overly restrictive.
"My message to California would be, New York passed a bill, we sued, we got an injunction," Combs said. "New Jersey passed a bill, we sued, we got an injunction. You want to be the next one?"
Gun control advocates say California leaders shouldn't be intimidated. After last month's mass shootings, Ruth Borenstein, legislative and policy chair for the gun-control organization Brady California, said that despite the rash of violence "California's strong gun laws have made a huge difference."
The state used to have higher than average gun homicide rates, and now is below average, she said. "The trend has been really remarkable," Borenstein said. "It shows gun laws make huge difference."
California was slower out of the gate with its own bill rewrite. Last year, Portantino's Senate Bill 918, similar to SB 2 introduced Tuesday, sought to add new training requirements, reviews of the applicant's social media posts and an expanded list of sensitive places where concealed weapons would not be allowed. Because the legislation was introduced as an urgency measure, it needed more than a simple majority to pass, and disagreement among fellow Democrats allowed the bill to die on the last day of the legislative session.
Check back for more on this developing story.
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