It’s no surprise that the leftist Democrats in charge of California want to remove guns (at least the legally owned ones) from the state. But over the past several months, a number of rational judges have stepped in to prevent some of the most audacious gun-grabbing ploys from going into effect.
The latest example involves a bill signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September that was set to be implemented on Jan. 1. Its intention was to make it illegal for even properly licensed citizens to carry concealed weapons in more than two dozen types of places including playgrounds, parks, and libraries.
But a federal judge intervened on Wednesday.
According to the Daily Caller:
United States District Judge Cormac Carney of the Central District of California, appointed by former President George W. Bush, issued a temporary restraining order, halting the law from taking effect on Jan. 1, The Associated Press reported. “The right to self-defense and to defend one’s family is fundamental and inherent to our very humanity irrespective of any formal codification,” Carney wrote in his ruling.
“For many years, the right to bear arms, and so necessarily the right to self-defense, was relegated to second-class status,” Carney added. “But the United States Supreme Court made clear in its landmark decisions District of Columbia v. Heller, McDonald v. City of Chicago, and New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Incorporated v. Bruen that relegation could no longer be permitted—individuals must be able to effectuate their right to self-defense by, if they so choose, responsibly bearing arms.”
The bill and the judge’s recent ruling has attracted some serious social media attention.
The judge: "SB2's coverage is sweeping, repugnant to the Second Amendment, and openly defiant of the Supreme Court." https://t.co/JkruNDhgKO pic.twitter.com/bFKUEiFC3w
— Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy) December 21, 2023
Big credit to @CRPAnews @MorosKostas @GunOwnersCA and all involved in sticking it to Newsom and his cronies! Big win against SB2. More info to come. https://t.co/b5CjRtTJbO
— Armed Scholar (@armedscholaryt) December 21, 2023
CA SB2 is an unconstitutional affront to our 2A rights and practically nullifies our right to carry, even with a CCW "permit"!
This bill must be stopped as soon as possible to show that The People will not tolerate these restrictions.#2A #2ndAmendment #gunrights pic.twitter.com/7yvVrnK9Od— CaliArms.org Official (@CaliArms) December 15, 2023
Hey Senator @Portantino, GFY, we got your piece of sh!t legislation cancelled by injunction today. Your legacy won't be the passage of SB2, but it's dismantling, along with every other draconian unconstitutional gun policy you authored or voted for.
🖕🖕
— THE OCpatriot™ (@OCpatriot_) December 21, 2023
The injunction came on the heels of several other pro-Second Amendment rulings in response to prior efforts by California lawmakers to infringe the rights of the state’s citizens.
As CNN reported in October:
A federal judge has overturned a decades-old California law banning assault weapons, calling the restriction “extreme” and unconstitutional.
US District Judge Roger T. Benitez ruled Thursday the ban impedes on residents’ Second Amendment rights and has no historical precedent, as is required by a landmark Supreme Court decision last year that changed the test courts are to use when determining the constitutionality of firearms regulations.
Benitez relied on a similar argument when he struck down California’s ban on high-capacity magazines last month.
The state argued the law aims to prevent mass shooters from gaining access to assault weapons. But Benitez countered many of the banned firearms are also commonly used by “law-abiding” citizens for self-defense.
“California’s answer to the criminal misuse of a few is to disarm its many good residents. That knee-jerk reaction is constitutionally untenable, just as it was 250 years ago,” Benitez wrote in his decision.
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Here’s a warning from one sheriff about how the new law would impact gun owners in his county if it goes into effect:
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