Open Carry Ban in California Passes Assembly

By a narrow margin, apparently. It still has to pass the Senate. It’s hard to tell, because California’s gun laws are complex and convoluted, but I’m pretty sure this outright prohibits open carry, even in unincorporated areas, which was previously legal.

20 thoughts on “Open Carry Ban in California Passes Assembly”

  1. Obliterating the residual ability to open carry is just gonna mean more legal pressure on CA to go “shall issue” for *concealed* carry in post-McDonald litigation.

  2. Yeah, they’ve pretty much shut down open carry with this new bit of the penal code:
    =======
    SEC. 8. Section 12037 is added to the Penal Code, to read:
    12037. (a) A person is guilty of openly carrying an unloaded
    handgun when that person carries an exposed and unloaded handgun outside a vehicle on his or her person while in any public place or on any public street in an incorporated city or in any public place or on any public street in a prohibited area of an unincorporated territory.
    =======

    There are a pile of exceptions, many similar to the concealed carry exceptions already in existence, but the net effect is if you OC while walking the dog, you’re getting hooked up for a misdemeanor (6 months in county or $1000 fine).

    Good work, California. I feel safer already!

  3. California….

    How far you’ve fallen….

    *sighs*

    Remembers as a little kid going to the mall with his father who was wearing a Ruger Security-Six. This was in San Diego.

    Of course, if California tightens it’s laws much more there will be no RTKBA.

    California, is trying to give cause to the 3% movement. And they’re doing a pretty darn good job.

  4. It’s going to be hard swallowing that Starbucks coffee now! Unguided activism always ends up hurting the cause more than advancing it. How fast this stuff can blow up, huh? Now there is a bitter uphill battle for us to fight.

  5. Now there is a bitter uphill battle for us to fight.

    It’s california. This remains true regardless of whether CA gun owners exercise their rights or not.

  6. Yes, but it’s generally good advice that when you find yourself in over your head, the first step is to stop digging.

  7. Dannytheman —

    Bah. Meanwhile, AZ just adopted permitless open carry, and OK came within a hair’s breadth of allowing permit holders to open carry; that will probably go through next year under a new governor.

    CA’s an outlier that’s been trending in the wrong direction for years. .50 ban, etc.

  8. McDonald at SCOTUS and then Palmer v. DC (carry rights in DC and thus, post-McDonald, in the states) in the lower DC court. That ruling should be coming out more or less at the same time as McDonald if I am reading it correctly.

  9. I know what they should do – they should all have a big open carry rally at a coffee shop. Oh, wait.

    Well, the good news is that if this passes, these idiots won’t be able to pull this crap anymore. Hopefully some of the idiots who do the same thing in other states will think twice next time (I’m looking at you, PA).

  10. Oh my – mike said that everybody who open carries at Starbucks is an idiot. Hopefully mike will think twice next time before he calls other people idiots just because they do something that he doesn’t agree with.

  11. I’m pretty sure the state senate will rubber stamp this one in due course, with Governator adding his seal of approval without hesitation.

    Clayton is spot-on, though. This will bring (via Sykes) the may-issue-if-I-really-feel-like-it CCW system in CA out of the shadows and hopefully see it reformed once McDonald is out.

    It won’t be an overnight event, but fortunately the Right People have the Right Cases waiting in the wings (they would have gone ahead already had Nordyke not been put on hold pending McDonald.)

  12. Oh my – Ronnie completely misinterpreted what I said, which is that people having open carry RALLIES at coffee shops are idiots.

    If you feel the need to ruin it for everyone else, like our comrades in California did, please don’t.

  13. By your logic Mike, those pesky people that demanded to be able to practice their religion in public that started this country would have been idiots too huh?

  14. “By your logic Mike, those pesky people that demanded to be able to practice their religion in public that started this country would have been idiots too huh?”

    If it was *already* legal and they went into coffee shops to rally, then yes, they’d be idiots. Because OC was already legal, and practicing religion freely wasn’t, then it’s not an apples to apples comparison.

    But don’t let *me* determine whether these OC Activists are idiots or not. They’ve already caused several private businesses to outright ban firearms, and it looks like OC – which is currently legal – will soon become illegal in CA. Yeah, they’re friggin’ geniuses. And they’re a more effective at eroding gun rights than the Brady Bunch.

  15. Mike, you’re pretty whacking the nail on the head. Besides, these folks were advised to cease and desist until some favorable judicial results could come down. Those same results would have prevented AB1934, or in the least given us the tools to make it go away in a big hurry.

    Now? Who knows. Instead of keeping OC *and* reforming CCW issuance, we’ll be lucky to reform CCW issuance. Once OC is gone, odds are, it’s never coming back.

  16. “Once OC is gone, odds are, it’s never coming back.”

    It is gone in Texas, but maybe not forever; But I’d rather get campus carry for CHLs first as a legislative priority. Then we can talk OC.

    As for CA, well, considering that they only had *unloaded* OC, the activists were exercising some pretty limited rights as it was. It’s not like they lost Arizona-style Open Carry, they were just exploiting a legal loophole. If the ban passes and it indirectly leads to better CCW law through litigation, so much the better. It’s a temporary setback. Things may have to get worse before they get better in CA, sad to say. They were never going to jump straight to AZ-style OC. Permitless CCW/OC is the endgame for all law-abiding persons nationally, maybe we’ll get there if not in our lifetimes then perhaps in the next generation or so…if the country holds together that long. But I remain guardedly optimistic.

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