California law banning carrying concealed firearms in many public places is once again blocked

By Josh Campbell, CNN

(CNN) — A new California gun law banning the concealed carry of firearms in “sensitive places” – including places of worship, public libraries, amusement parks, zoos and sporting events – is once again blocked after a decision Saturday by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The law signed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom – Senate Bill 2 – was temporarily halted last month after District Judge Cormac Carney issued an injunction deeming the gun control measure unconstitutional and “repugnant to the Second Amendment.”

Carney’s ruling was subsequently put on hold by a three-judge panel that determined more time was needed by the court to consider the arguments of both sides.

That pause was however “dissolved” Saturday by a 9th Circuit panel, which indicated arguments in the case will be considered in April, effectively re-instituting Carney’s original blocking of the law.

Newsom’s office slammed the court’s new ruling in a statement late Saturday.

“This dangerous decision puts the lives of Californians on the line,” read the statement shared by spokesperson Daniel Villaseñor. “We won’t stop working to defend our decades of progress on gun safety in our state.”

The law, among a series of gun control measures signed by Newsom in September, went into effect January 1 and applies to those with licenses to carry a concealed weapon. At the time, Newsom cited shootings across the country that left at least 104 people dead over the 72 hours prior to the signing.

In his original order temporarily blocking the new state law in December, judge Carney cited a recent landmark Supreme Court decision to justify blocking the sweeping California state law, which had been challenged by the California Rifle and Pistol Association and Gun Owners of America, among other plaintiffs.

That decision, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, changed the framework judges must use to review gun regulations and determined that modern-day laws restricting gun ownership are only constitutional if consistent with the nation’s “historical tradition.”

While assessing various public areas where California’s law prohibited the concealed carry of a firearm, Carney indicated the state had not provided a sufficient “historical analogue” to similar laws banning weapons in areas like zoos, museums, libraries and hospitals.

“SB2 turns nearly every public place in California into a ‘sensitive place,’ effectively abolishing the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding and exceptionally qualified citizens to be armed and to defend themselves in public,” Carney wrote in his order.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta in response argued that Senate Bill 2 does adhere to the guidelines set by the Supreme Court in Bruen.

“If allowed to stand, this decision would endanger communities by allowing guns in places where families and children gather,” Bonta said in a December statement.

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CNN’s Nouran Salahieh, Andy Rose and Cindy Von Quednow contributed to this report.