California Open-Carry Ban Struck Down

Ninth Circuit rules population-based prohibition violates Second Amendment

A three-judge Ninth Circuit panel just struck down California's open-carry ban in counties over 200,000 residents — covering 95% of the state's population.

The legal foundation is Bruen. The court applied the Supreme Court's history-and-tradition test and found California's justifications paper-thin. The state pointed to 19th-century affray laws and selectively enforced city ordinances. Judge VanDyke wasn't buying it.

"The historical record makes unmistakably plain that open carry is part of this Nation's history and tradition." — Judge Lawrence VanDyke, majority opinion

The ruling isn't narrow. Los Angeles and San Francisco would be required to issue open-carry permits under this decision — a direct gut-punch to a gun control scheme California spent six decades constructing around preventing any carry, anywhere, by anyone.

The shell game exposed: Judge Lee's concurrence names what everyone suspected. California technically allows open-carry permit applications in rural counties — but has issued exactly zero permits in the past decade. Applicants receive a 17-page concealed carry form that never mentions open carry. Lee compared this to deceptive business practices California routinely prosecutes when private companies try the same move.

The lone dissent came from Senior Judge Smith, who argued his colleagues "got this case half right" — he would have preserved the urban ban, reading Bruen as protecting general "public carry" rather than specific methods like open versus concealed.

Circuit split watch: This decision lands in direct conflict with the Second Circuit's Frey ruling out of New York. Circuit splits are Supreme Court catnip — the Court almost always steps in.

• AG Bonta says he's "considering options" — meaning California will fight hard
• A full Ninth Circuit en banc review is possible
• Enforcement continues during appeals, so don't holster up yet

The bottom line: California now faces a choice it's dodged for 60 years — build a functioning open-carry licensing system or watch more of its gun framework dismantled in federal court. Either way, the era of "no carry, period" is running out of road.

Go deeper:

• Ninth Circuit decision analysis
• Full court ruling details