Noting that California’s “sensitive places” statute substantially restricts lawful concealed carry and is “sweeping, repugnant to the Second Amendment, and openly defiant of the Supreme Court,” a federal judge has ordered a preliminary injunction against the law’s enforcement.
It is a significant victory for the Second Amendment Foundation and its partners in a September federal lawsuit. May v. Bonta is the name of the lawsuit.
Gun Owners of America, the Gun Owners Foundation, the California Rifle & Pistol Association, and eleven private individuals contributed to the triumph. C.D. Michel, Sean A. Brady, and Konstadinos T. Moros of Michel & Associates in Long Beach represent them, as does Donald Kilmer of Law Offices of Don Kilmer in Caldwell, Idaho.
On Wednesday, Cormac J. Carney of the United States District Court for the Central District of California issued his 43-page opinion. The judge stated in his verdict, “The right to self-defense and to defend one’s family is fundamental and inherent to our very humanity, regardless of any formal codification…For many years, the right to bear guns, and thus the right to self-defense, was considered second-class.”
That all changed when the United States Supreme Court issued three historic decisions for 14 years, culminating in the Bruen judgment in June 2022.
However, California lawmakers and Governor Gavin Newsom virtually ignored the Supreme Court and, as Judge Carney remarked, defied Second Amendment rights rules. Senate Bill 2 was passed, identifying practically all private land available to the public as “sensitive places.”
“SB2 is not only an affront to the right to keep and bear arms,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb, “it’s an insult to the intelligence of every honest citizen in the Golden State.”
“It amounts to a massive prohibition on legal carry throughout the state, which runs counter to what the U.S. Supreme Court said in its Bruen ruling last year. Thankfully, Judge Carney sent a message to Gov. Newsom and anti-gun-rights state lawmakers that they can’t get away with this.”
Second Amendment Foundation Executive Director Adam Kraut added, “SB 2 is deliberately designed to frustrate and ultimately discourage individuals from exercising their right to bear arms by creating a patchwork of locations where Second Amendment rights may, or may not, be exercised. We’re delighted that Judge Carney saw through this sham.”