California law barring guns from most public spaces set to go into effect after appeals court ruling

A federal appeals court on Saturday put a temporary injunction on hold for a California law that would bar most gun owners from carrying guns in many public spaces, including banks, playgrounds and churches, that goes into effect on New Year’s Day. 

The Dec. 20 injunction called the law, “sweeping, repugnant to the Second Amendment, and openly defiant of the Supreme Court” after gun owners, the California Rifle & Pistol Association, the Second Amendment Foundation and Gun Owners of America sued over it. 

U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney wrote in his Dec. 20 ruling that the law, “turns nearly every public place in California into a ‘sensitive place,’ effectively abolishing the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding and exceptionally qualified citizens to be armed and to defend themselves in public.”

The law was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September, and prohibits gun owners from carrying firearms in 26 types of “sensitive” places and would include permit holders. It also bars owners from carrying concealed weapons in a privately owned business open to the public — like a restaurant — unless the owner posts a sign that concealed guns are allowed. 

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Saturday’s administrative stay on the Dec. 20 injunction by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will remain until another panel of judges from the same circuit decides if a longer hold on the law is necessary.

In June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against a similar law in New York that limited concealed carry, saying gun laws must be “consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”

California Democrats said the new law complies with the Supreme Court ruling in New York. 

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After the Dec. 20 ruling, Chuck Michel, the California Rifle and Pistol Association’s president, said, “California progressive politicians refuse to accept the Supreme Court’s mandate from the [New York] Bruen case and are trying every creative ploy they can imagine to get around it. The Court saw through the State’s gambit,” NPR reported. 

California Secretary of State Rob Bonta had said the state would appeal the Dec. 20 ruling, and on Saturday afternoon Newsom responded to the appeals court’s ruling. 

“This ruling will allow our common-sense gun laws to remain in place while we appeal the district court’s dangerous ruling,” he said. “Californians overwhelmingly support efforts to ensure that places like hospitals, libraries and children’s playgrounds remain safe and free from guns.” 

Fox News Digital has reached out to the California Rifle & Gun Association for comment. 

Reuters contributed to this report.