California Moves to Make Nation’s Strictest Gun Laws Even Stricter

(The Center Square) – California’s Public Carry Laws are about to get a revision with new legislation announced Feb. 1 by California Governor Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Rob Bonta and State Senator Anthony Portantino.

The catalysts for change came after California experienced multiple mass shootings last week, and follows the June decision of the US Supreme Court on the license requirement in New York for concealed carry of arms, which mirrored aspects of California’s public carry laws and put them at risk.

“As we know, communities across California are grieving at least 26 people murdered in mass shootings in just one single week. And so many of our communities, especially communities of color, know painfully well the daily toll of shootings that never make the national news, but that nonetheless, leave a wake of trauma and loss and human sorrow,” Mike Vick Lively, a supporter and Policy Director at the Gifford Center for Violence Intervention said this. “We know that California must act, and under the leadership of Governor Newsom, and Attorney General Bonta, and this great group of legislators, we’re going to make a difference. “

Senate Bill 2 (SB2) updates the process for obtaining a concealed weapon (CCW), license that allows an individual to legally carry a firearm in public.

“It strengthens our state. And here’s why. It ensures those carrying firearms and the public are responsible, law abiding citizens. That’s important. We’re not taking someone’s Second Amendment right, we’re ensuring that the Second Amendment is properly applicable to people who weren’t getting a concealed carry permit. It protects children and young adults from gun violence by setting a minimum age requirement.” Portantino said.

21 years is the new minimum age to obtain a CCW licence. This legislation aims to ensure that firearms are only allowed to be carried in public by law-abiding, responsible individuals.

SB 2 will tighten firearms training requirements. “Advancing safety through stronger training requirements. Again, you have to be trained to fly a plane, you have to be trained to drive a car, you should have strong training requirements, if we’re going to give you the responsibility to have a concealed weapon,” Portantino continued.

Newsom said, “We made some modest tweeks that we think are consistent with the, we think a very bad ruling by the United States Supreme Court last year and we are moving forward this year with conviction.”

Perhaps the most important aspect of the legislation are the proposed restrictions regarding where CCW license holders would be allowed to carry. The state will make the final decision. “sensitive public spaces” As gun-free zones.

Portantino pointed this out. “We safeguard the public by identifying certain sensitive public places.…. And so we’re going to use the Supreme Court decision to have a robust list of prohibited places.”

The US Supreme Court decision of June 23 2022 New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen It was ruled unconstitutional that New York required a permit to carry concealed weapons in public places.

New York law didn’t require licenses, but individuals had to show good cause to be licensed in order to carry concealed weapons in public. That gave too much subjective power for state officials to decide who is allowed to conceal weapons in public.

“We had rules and regulations prior to this New York decision that have their historical footings as was suggested in 1911, they’ve been tested, we had protocols in place ..they disrupted that and they forced a different consciousness now its not good moral character, now we don’ t have the capacity to adjudicate certain points that we did prior and now we have a provision made to show and that forces our hand on the other side around sensitive places,” Gov. Newsom stated.

The Bruen ruling essentially shifted the reasoning behind gun laws – away from whether the state’s reasons for enacting the gun law outweighed the burden (on individuals) created by the law’s restriction, to whether a firearm restriction is part of the historical tradition, if the activity being restricted is protected under the Second Amendment.

The ruling made it possible for similar laws to be rewritten in other states. California is one example.

“Let me be absolutely clear. This is Bruen compliant. It is designed to comply with the Supreme Court dictates and direction when it comes to concealed carry weapon regimes. The Supreme Court has made clear there are two pathways where we can make progress to keep California and safe people safe, that we are not in a regulatory straightjacket,” AG Bonta stated. “The very words from the Supreme Court case that we can identify sensitive places where concealed carry weapons should not be carried. We can also conduct fair and objective safety evaluations before granting concealed weapon permits to individuals. So, we are saying that if someone recklessly breaks the law or is irresponsible, they should not be permitted to carry concealed firearms in public. That’s it. “

Leaders stated that the legislative fixes would also serve an even greater purpose.

“California is saying we won’t as we wait for other states and the federal government to do their part to act. And let me be clear, they must act. They need to step up. And it’s easy, do what California is doing. Simple. We have the blueprint copy. You don’t need to recreate anything. We’ve done it,” Attorney General Bonta suggested.

“I find it the height of irony, these same judges that are pontificating around these historical traditions, are the same who have no problem limiting those same weapons from their courtrooms,” Governor Newsom said.