California AG Asks: Concealed Carry a Right, or a Privilege?

On November 26, California Attorney General Kamala Harris’s office said that it will ask that the judgment against California’s “good cause” requirement for concealed carry permits be referred to an “en banc” [full] panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the Attorney General’s move buys time to “let sheriffs continue requiring [good cause]” before issuing concealed carry permits, and also pushes the matter in a way that will force a decision on whether concealed carry is a right or simply a privilege. 

Breitbart News previously reported that the latest chapter in the concealed carry saga began on February 13, when a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit struck down California’s “good cause” requirement for concealed carry permit applicants. The panel ruled that the Second Amendment right to bear arms is, in and of itself, a sufficient cause for bearing arms for self-defense.

Two weeks later, Harris said she would appeal the decision. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence said it would join her in the appeal.

On November 12, Breitbart News reported that the Ninth Circuit had denied Harris’s request for appeal. The court ruled that Harris’s request “did not meet the heavy burden of demonstrating imperative reasons in favor of intervention on appeal.”

Now Harris is trying another route, by asking the entire Ninth Circuit to hear an appeal of the “good cause” judgment. This push comes as two other cases–one in Yolo County and one in Hawaii, both of which fall into the Ninth Circuit’s jurisdiction–are ongoing as well. And it comes after the Third Circuit took a different position, siding with more restrictive rules for concealed carry in New Jersey.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that Harris’ new push “has US Supreme Court written all over it.” And the issue at hand, if the Supreme Court picks it up, will ultimately be a ruling on a whether concealed carry is a right or simply a privilege. 

The Second Amendment says: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins  Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.