State seeks concealed-gun limits in some spaces
Democrats in the California Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom are making a second attempt to pass legislation that would tighten the state’s rules for concealed weapons by banning firearms in a host of public spaces.
The bill is the state’s response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that took a wrecking ball to state laws limiting concealed carry gun laws, which Newsom called a “very bad ruling.”
Though the court found states can’t force people to demonstrate a need for a concealed weapon, it also said prohibiting guns in some sensitive public places is allowed and that states can create their own license requirements.
Senate Bill 2, by state Sen. Anthony Portantino, D-La Cañada Flintridge (Los Angeles County), would greatly expand the list of public places where guns cannot be carried, including bars or any place where alcohol is sold and consumed, childcare facilities, hospitals, public transportation, gyms, financial institutions, sports arenas, casinos, libraries, amusement parks, museums, zoos and public parks and playgrounds.
The ban on concealed weapons would also apply to any other private commercial establishment, unless the owner posts a conspicuous sign at the business entrance stating that license holders may carry guns.
Newsom and a group of Democratic legislators unveiled the bill Wdnesday at a news conference in Sacramento, where they angrily recalled a series of mass shootings that claimed the lives of at least 25 Californians this month — including recent tragedies in Monterey Park, Half Moon Bay and Oakland.
“This is a national disgrace,” Newsom said of America’s epidemic of gun violence. “Fifty-plus mass shootings so far this year. We’re just not going to allow that. We’re going to continue to do more and do better.”
But a nearly identical bill to expand California’s concealed carry rules died last year, despite support from Newsom and leaders in the Legislature, where Democrats have a super-majority.
Ironically, that measure fell short because legislators rushed to try to enact it quickly in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling. Because the bill had an “urgency clause” — meaning it would take effect immediately upon Newsom’s signature — it needed a two-thirds majority to pass.
The measure fell two votes short just after midnight on the last night of legislators’ session last summer, largely due to hesitancy among some moderate Democrats.
Newsom and Portantino were unequivocal Wednesday that they expect SB2 to get across the finish line this year. For one thing, the bill no long has an urgency clause, which means it can pass with a simple majority.
“I will be signing this legislation. I don’t think that, I know that,” Newsom said. “We have the votes.”
SB2 would also add a slew of regulations and background check requirements for gun owners to obtain permits. It would create a standardized statewide concealed-carry permit and require applicants to undergo an in-person interview and disclose their criminal records. Local jurisdictions would have to determine if the applicant is “reasonably likely to be a danger to themselves or others.”
The measure is California’s attempt to make the law as restrictive as possible while complying with the letter of the Supreme Court’s ruling in the landmark case New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen, which was widely interpreted as striking down similarly restrictive laws in California and a halfdozen other states.
The Supreme Court in June struck down a New York law requiring gun owners to show they have “proper cause” to get a permit to carry a handgun outside of their home. In other words, the state could not require applicants to demonstrate that they need a gun for self-defense.
The court’s conservative majority held, in an opinion written by Justice Clarence Thomas, that states can require handgun owners to get a permit to carry in public as long as they use objective measures to evaluate whether to issue a permit. Thomas also suggested that the government can still prohibit guns in “sensitive places” like schools and government buildings.
State Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat who spoke alongside Newsom on Wednesday, said SB2 is an attempt to take advantage of those two pathways outlined in the court’s opinion.
“Let me be absolutely clear: This is Bruen compliant. It is designed to comply with the Supreme Court’s dictates and direction,” Bonta said. “We are saying, if you recklessly break the law, if you are an irresponsible individual, you should not be allowed to carry a concealed firearm in public.”
In California, concealedweapon licenses have historically been generally available in the state’s most rural counties, those with a population of fewer than 200,000 people. But such licenses have been difficult to obtain in metropolitan areas, and cities and counties can create their own restrictions and set fee amounts.
Some liberal jurisdictions, including San Francisco, have continued to make it difficult to obtain a permit, even in the wake of the Bruen ruling, as gun rights groups threaten to sue.
SB2 is expected to draw fervent opposition from gun-rights groups and Republican legislators. As Newsom and Democratic legislators held their news conference, the Assembly GOP caucus slammed the governor for his record on crime.
“Another set of restrictions on top of California’s 100+ existing gun laws is not going to make a dent in the wave of violent crime washing over our state,” the caucus said in a statement. “Enforcing our existing laws will.”
Republicans have suggested that restrictions on “law abiding” gun owners won’t quell violence and have pointed to the shootings in Half Moon Bay to make their case. In that case, the suspected shooter killed seven coworkers and critically injured another using a semiautomatic handgun that authorities said was legally purchased. U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, seized on that argument last week as he pointed out the state’s strict gun laws, telling reporters, “apparently that did not work in this situation.”
Newsom and Democrats have stressed that California has a far lower rate of gun violence than the country as a whole. They’ve attributed that stat to the state’s strict laws, including bans on large-capacity magazines and semiautomatic firearms that the state defines as assault weapons. Such laws are in jeopardy after the Supreme Court’s ruling, and lower courts are likely to roll back some provisions.
California’s gun death rate is about 37% lower than the national average. California had 8.5 firearm-related deaths per 100,000 residents in 2020, compared with the nationwide average of 13.6 deaths per 100,000, according to the most recent data from the CDC.
Newsom lashed out at McCarthy and Republicans on Wednesday over their line of argument. He ridiculed the speaker for his “deep compassion and concern expressed around the two shootings in his own state.”
The governor added, “You can solve for a pattern, and California has proven that over the course of decades. We’re not going to fall prey ... to the predictable response to every shooting, ‘Well, this law in this case wouldn’t have solved this issue.’ There’s a pattern.”