[9th Circuit] prevents California from banning guns in most public places [View all]

[In It to Win It]

US appeals court prevents California from banning guns in most public places

A federal appeals court on Saturday allowed a judge's ruling that barred California from enforcing a new law that bans the carrying of guns in most public places on the grounds that it was unconstitutional to take effect.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dissolved an order by a different 9th Circuit panel from a week earlier that suspended an injunction issued by a judge who concluded the Democratic-led state's law violated the right of citizens to keep and bear arms under the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment.

Last week's order had temporarily stayed the injunction and allowed the law to take effect on Jan. 1. Gun rights groups then asked the 9th Circuit to reconsider, and on Saturday a different panel of judges dissolved the order suspending the injunction.

"So the politicians' ploy to get around the Second Amendment has been stopped for now," C.D. Michel, a lawyer for the gun rights groups, said in a statement.

California's appeal of the injunction will now be heard in April. The state's attorney general in court papers had argued "tens of millions of Californians will face a heightened risk of gun violence" if the law was blocked.

"This dangerous decision puts the lives of Californians on the line," said Daniel Villaseñor, a spokesperson for Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, who signed the measure into law in September.