Another California Gun Policy Doesn't Survive Federal Court

Ever since California Democrats got a real stranglehold on the legislature with their “supermajority” several years ago, they have been feverishly attacking the Second Amendment rights of the state’s citizens.

Earlier this month, the California Assembly moved along a bill that was rather Soviet-esque in its creepiness.

I’ve been asked in many interviews over the past few years about the various exceedingly anti-Second Amendment laws issuing forth from Sacramento. I’m no legal expert, but my reply each time was that none of them would survive close scrutiny in court.

That’s a slow process, however, and often the awful laws can stay on the books for far too long.

There is some good legal news for residents of Riverside County as we head into the summer.

Firearms Policy Coalition:

Today, plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit filed last fall announced that Senior United States District Judge Dean D. Pregerson entered an order permanently enjoining Riverside County, California from having a policy and practice of preventing legal U.S. residents from exercising their right to apply for a carry license in Van Nieuwenhuyzen, et al. v. Riverside, CA Sheriff Stanley Sniff, et al. A copy of the court filings can be viewed at www.firearmspolicy.org/legal.

The order states that “this Judgment for a Permanent Injunction shall be entered as to and against the defendants in this action, who are now and hereby enjoined from enforcing, and continuing to enforce, implement or abide by any policy regarding the issuance of permits to carry concealed weapons (CCWs) to the extent that such policy prohibits non-U.S. citizens who are otherwise qualified, lawful permanent residents of the County of Riverside, and who are not otherwise prohibited from owning firearms, from applying or obtaining a permit to carry a concealed weapon under state law, Cal. Pen. Code § 26150, et seq.”

CCWs in California are issued at the discretion of local law enforcement, generally the county sheriff. I lived in Los Angeles County and I had better odds of winning the lottery than I did getting a permit to carry there.

While this policy affected a small group of people, a victory is still a victory. It also “sends a crystal-clear message to carry licensing authorities that the rights of the people can and will be enforced in our courts,” according to Brandon Combs, who is the president of the Firearms Policy Coalition.