California outlaws open carry

From the LA Times:

Gov. Jerry Brown announced early Monday that he had outlawed the open carrying of handguns in public in California, a controversial practice that top law enforcement officials had denounced as dangerous.

Combined with the near impossibility of getting a concealed carry license in most of California this will, almost for certain, go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

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11 thoughts on “California outlaws open carry

  1. And barring more hacks like those who dissented on Heller that the 2nd was an individual right, but it was OK to deny said right, it should be a winner.

    I mean the amendment does say keep AND BEAR.

  2. My condolences, California. I fully support both open and concealed carry, and I’m disappointed that any governor would think that either represents a threat or problem of any sort.

  3. It might actually work out to CA’s benefit, though. Several carry cases there have been decided unfavorably because the judges said “well, you can just UOC! Your rights are just fiiiine.” Now, that flimsy excuse is legislatively gone, so this may be the lever to bring shall-issue to the state. Once that is done, you can bet that they’ll then work on getting this removed, but until then, it can actually be a useful thing.

  4. On the issue of open carry I have repeatedly scene it reported that that one cannot open carry an unloaded handgun in California. So can one open carry a loaded handgun? Also what would the purpose of carrying an unloaded handgun be? I am not being facetious if someone could enlighten me I would be grateful.

  5. derfel,

    Back when Reagan was Governor (’66-’74) the Black Panthers scared the white people in Cali by exercising their right under California law to openly carry loaded guns in public.

    So the white people quickly criminalized openly carrying loaded guns in public in response and Gov. Reagan signed the law (concealed carry was already regulated at the time).

    That law had a bit of a “loophole” in that it did not criminalize carrying a handgun openly while not loaded and court cases had already determined that if the ammunition was not attached to the gun then the gun could not be considered loaded.

    So some people carried empty guns with full mags to at least “have a gun” (there’s your purpose).

    That went on quietly for years, but as the CCW movement swept the country but was resisted by the California legislature, a politicized OC movement grew in response and people started exercising their right to openly carry unloaded firearms in public more actively in groups as a political statement.

    This scared a whole new new group of white people who passed the law Gov. Brown (who ironically followed Gov. Reagan into office back in the day) just signed.

  6. Never did understand OC. As a protest maybe?
    A lot of us have concealed carried in Cali for years, with or without a slip of paper.
    I’m not sure, but I think Alan G. thinks this is a start to a win.

  7. “With or without a slip of paper”–I would be extremely careful if I were you, kid.

  8. I would be extremely careful if I were you, kid.

    Indeed – but so long as one is white, law abiding, and middle class or above the odds are heavily in ones favor.

  9. Open Carry has its advantages. It can be more comfortable; it helps normalize guns in culture; it’s easier to draw from open-carry than from concealed. In the case of California, it was pretty much the only option–and legally, it was only an option of the gun wasn’t loaded.

    There’s another advantage to having open carry legal, though, even if you don’t want to carry openly: in Texas and I think in Florida (though Florida may have changed recently), it’s illegal to carry openly. If you have a concealed carry permit, and are carrying a concealed gun, if the wind blows your jacket open so that people can see your gun–or sometimes even if your gun is printing–then you are “guilty” of “open carry” and are subject to the laws that make it illegal.

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