A federal appeals court has ruled that California’s long-standing prohibition on openly carrying firearms across most of the state violates the U.S. Constitution, delivering a significant setback to one of the nation’s strictest gun-control regimes.
In a 2–1 decision issued Friday, a panel of the San Francisco-based Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with a California gun owner who challenged the state’s ban on open carry in counties with populations exceeding 200,000. Roughly 95% of Californians live in counties covered by that restriction.
Writing for the majority, U.S. Circuit Judge Lawrence VanDyke said the law could not survive scrutiny under the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which reshaped how courts evaluate firearms regulations.
That ruling requires gun laws to be “consistent with this nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation,” a standard VanDyke said California failed to meet.
“The historical record makes unmistakably plain that open carry is part of this Nation’s history and tradition,” VanDyke wrote, noting that openly carrying firearms for self-defense predates the ratification of the Bill of Rights in 1791.
VanDyke, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, emphasized that more than 30 states currently permit open carry in some form. He also pointed out that California itself allowed residents to openly carry holstered handguns for self-defense without penalty until 2012.
The decision partially overturns a 2023 ruling by a lower court that had rejected a challenge brought in 2019 by gun owner Mark Baird. While the appeals panel largely ruled in Baird’s favor, it declined to strike down California’s licensing framework in smaller counties, which allows local authorities to issue open-carry permits.
In a dissent, Senior U.S. Circuit Judge N. Randy Smith said the majority went too far. Appointed by former President George W. Bush, Smith argued that California’s firearms restrictions complied with the Supreme Court’s Bruen framework and said the panel “got this case half right.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office said it is reviewing the ruling. “We are committed to defending California’s common-sense gun laws,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
The Supreme Court’s 2022 decision has triggered a wave of legal challenges to modern gun regulations nationwide. In California, courts have continued to uphold other restrictions, including a law affirmed by the Ninth Circuit in September 2024 that bars firearms from designated “sensitive places” such as bars, parks, stadiums, museums, and zoos.
