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U.S. appeals court rules states may restrict people from openly carrying guns in public

By Maura Dolan, Los Angeles Times
Published: March 24, 2021, 2:00pm

SAN FRANCISCO – A divided federal appeals court, upholding a Hawaii gun regulation, decided Wednesday that states may restrict the open carrying of guns in public.

In a 7-4 decision, an en banc panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said restrictions on carrying guns in public except for hunting do not violate the Second Amendment’s guarantee of the right to bear arms.

“The government may regulate, and even prohibit, in public places – including government buildings, churches, schools and markets – the open carrying of small arms capable of being concealed, whether they are carried concealed or openly,” Judge Jay Bybee, appointed by President George W. Bush, wrote for the majority.

He said a review of more than 700 years of American and English law showed that government has long had the power to regulate arms in public places.

“We have never assumed that individuals have an unfettered right to carry weapons in public spaces,” Bybee wrote. “Indeed, we can find no general right to carry arms into the public square for self defense.”

Bybee was joined by another Bush appointee and five Democratic appointees.

The decision upheld a county law in Hawaii that limited permits for openly carrying guns, other than for hunting, to persons with an urgent need for arms and “engaged in the protection of life and property.”

It was challenged by a man who sought and was denied a permit for open carry for self-protection. Evidence during the legal proceedings revealed that the county’s permits had been limited to security guards.

Wednesday’s decision overturned a 2-1 ruling in the same case a year ago by a 9th Circuit panel.

Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain, writing the lead dissent Wednesday, called the majority decision “unprecedented” and “extreme.”

“At its core,” wrote O’Scannlain, a Reagan appointee who was joined by other Republican appointees, “the Second Amendment protects the ordinary, law-abiding citizen’s right to carry a handgun openly for purposes of self-defense outside the home. Despite an exhaustive historical account, the majority has unearthed nothing to disturb this conclusion.”

Federal appeals courts have been divided over the right to carry guns openly in public, creating a conflict in the law that the U.S. Supreme Court may eventually have to clarify.

A gun control group praised the ruling and noted that the Supreme Court would consider this week whether to review a similar case out of New York.

“Today’s ruling, joined by respected appellate judges across the ideological spectrum, is the latest reminder that arguments against reasonable, life-saving gun laws rarely hold up in the courtroom,” said Eric Tirschwell, managing director for Everytown Law, the litigation arm of Everytown for Gun Safety.

“As the court recognized, states and localities have extremely broad power to restrict the carrying of firearms in public spaces.”

The 9th Circuit decided in 2016 that people do not have a constitutional right to carry concealed guns in public.

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