Whoa: Ninth Circuit Rules We Have A Constitutional Right To Open Carry For Self-Defense

Matt Vespa Matt Vespa | @mvespa1 |Posted: Jul 24, 2018 1:45 PM



The Ninth Circuit is one of the most liberal courts, and the one that gave the Trump White House heartburn over its executive order on immigration. But even a blind squirrel finds a nut. This court recently ruled that we have a constitutional right to open carry in public for self-defense (via Reuters):

A federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment protects a right to openly carry a gun in public for self-defense, rejecting a claim by Hawaii officials that the right only applies to guns kept at home.

The extent of the right to gun ownership protected by the Second Amendment is one of the most hotly contested debates in the United States, where life has been punctuated by a steady stream of mass shootings.

The ruling issued by a three-judge panel on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in San Francisco, came a year after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to rule either way on the carrying of guns in public.

[…]

“We do not take lightly the problem of gun violence,” Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain wrote in Tuesday’s ruling. “But, for better or for worse, the Second Amendment does protect a right to carry a firearm in public for self-defense.”

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So, does this mean I can carry in California now?

This has been a very interesting month this far.

Did I miss the news that hell froze over?

Great news. Unfortunately, I don't think this decision will survive an en banc review by the full ninth circuit. If that happens, SCOTUS might get an opportunity to hear the case. Or refuse to hear it.

so when will I be able to open carry in Hawaii?!

I'm sure in the end it will be handed off to each state to allow gun carry as they see fit. It may at best push for them to issue permits if citizens pass a federal background check and not allow them to unreasonably withhold permits... Maybe.