Proposed South Carolina law would allow open carrying of guns in public. The Republican-controlled South Carolina House voted overwhelmingly to allow lawful firearm owners to carry handguns openly or concealed without a state permit.
Sacramento, California – California’s hardline ban on carrying guns in public just got shot down by a federal appeals court, triggering shockwaves across the state. On Friday, a San Francisco-based panel from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals declared, in a dramatic 2-1 decision, that Golden State residents in most urban counties can no longer be barred from openly carrying firearms—a bombshell shift for one of America’s most gun-restrictive states.
The panel sided with gun rights advocate Mark Baird, blasting the state’s sweeping prohibition on open carry in counties with populations exceeding 200,000 as a direct assault on the Second Amendment. With a staggering 95% of Californians living in those areas, this ruling overturns decades of tough firearm regulation.
Leading the charge, Judge Lawrence VanDyke—handpicked for the bench by Donald Trump—slammed the Democratic-led legislation, arguing it couldn’t survive the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen precedent. That seismic Supreme Court ruling, delivered by its conservative majority, demanded that gun laws be rooted in the nation’s historical tradition—something VanDyke claimed California trampled with its modern bans.
Citing the nation’s early and open embrace of firearm carry, VanDyke pulled no punches: “The historical record makes unmistakably plain that open carry is part of this nation’s history and tradition.” He torched California’s restrictive approach, calling out its origins in the controversial 1967 Mulford Act—a law born from fears over Black Panther members protesting at the state capitol with firearms in hand. VanDyke even accused the state of lingering ‘racial animus’ in its gun rules.
The judges pointed out that, unlike most of the country—over thirty states allow open carry—California only ended the practice as recently as 2012. Up until then, residents could openly carry unloaded handguns for self-defense, so long as they were holstered.
This new ruling overturns a 2023 district court’s dismissal of Baird’s challenge to the law, but the panel wasn’t swayed by all of Baird’s arguments. They upheld California’s licensing requirements for open carry in smaller counties, where less than 200,000 people live—meaning the state can still enforce restrictions there.
Not everyone agreed with the majority. Judge N. Randy Smith, an appointee of George W. Bush, dissented, insisting the existing laws do pass constitutional muster and warning that the majority was only half-right at best.
As for official reactions? Silence. Mark Baird’s legal team and Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office, which tried to defend the law, both kept mum when asked for comment. Meanwhile, legal battles over gun rights are heating up across the country, with the Supreme Court set to wade into yet another gun case—United States v. Hemani—next month, a move that could ripple nationwide.
California’s gun law landscape has just been rocked, and the reverberations are only beginning.
