California Drops ‘Good Cause’ Requirement for Concealed Carry Following SCOTUS 2A Ruling

California dropped its “good cause” requirement for concealed carry permit issuance days after the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) struck down New York’s proper cause requirement for concealed carry.

Breitbart News reported that SCOTUS’s June 23, 2022, ruling in NYSRPA v. Bruen struck down New York’s proper cause requirement for concealed carry permit issuance.

On June 24 New Jersey responded to the ruling by ending its “justifiable need” requirement for concealed carry permit issuance.

New Jersey acting Attorney General Matt Platkin released a directive which said, in part: “In reviewing an individual’s application for a permit to carry, the applicable law enforcement agency shall continue to ensure that the applicant satisfies all of the criteria of N.J.S.A. 2C:58-4d and N.J.A.C. 13:54-2.4, except that the applicant need not submit a written certification of justifiable need to carry a handgun.”

Also on Friday, the office of California Attorney General Rob Bonta released a Legal Alert to “All California District Attorneys, Police Chiefs, Sheriffs, County Counsels, and City Attorneys,” which said:

Although Bruen concerns a New York law, the Bruen majority specifically identifies California as one of six States that has an analogue to New York’s “proper cause” standard. … Accordingly, it is the Attorney General’s view that the Court’s decision renders California’s “good cause” standard to secure a permit to carry a concealed weapon in most public places unconstitutional. Permitting agencies may no longer require a demonstration of “good cause” in order to obtain a concealed carry permit.

In the majority opinion of Bruen, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote, “We too agree, and now hold, consistent with Heller and McDonald, that the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect an individual’s right to carry a handgun for self-defense outside the home.”

The case is NYSRPA v. Bruen, No. 20-843, in the Supreme Court of the United States.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.