California law banning guns in most public places again halted by appeals court
A California law banning people from carrying guns in certain public places has yet again been put on hold, this time by a federal appeals court.
In mid-December, a U.S. District judge temporarily blocked the California law, which was slated to take effect on Jan. 1.
Then, on Dec. 30, a federal appeals court put a temporary hold on the district judge's ruling, which paved the way for the law to go into effect on New Year's Day as the legal fight continued.
However, on Saturday, the U.S. Court of Appeals from the 9th Circuit on Saturday dissolved that stay, reinstating the district judge's ruling blocking the law.
In a statement Saturday evening provided to CBS News, Daniel Villaseñor, a spokesperson for California Gov. Gavin Newsom, called the ruling a "dangerous decision" that "puts the lives of Californians on the line. We won't stop working to defend our decades of progress on gun safety in our state."
The 9th Circuit panel will hear arguments in the case in April.
The law, signed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in September, prohibits people from carrying concealed guns in 26 places including public parks and playgrounds, churches, banks and zoos.
The ban applies regardless of whether the person has a permit to carry a concealed weapon. One exception is for privately owned businesses that put up signs saying people are allowed to bring guns on their premises.
The California Rifle and Pistol Association sued to block the law. When U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney granted a preliminary injunction blocking it on Dec. 20, he wrote that the law was "sweeping, repugnant to the Second Amendment, and openly defiant of the Supreme Court."
Carney wrote that gun rights groups are likely to succeed in proving it unconstitutional, meaning it would be permanently overturned.
The law overhauls California's rules for concealed carry permits in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, which set several states scrambling to react with their own laws. That decision said the constitutionality of gun laws must be assessed by whether they are "consistent with the nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation."
Newsom has said he will keep pushing for stricter gun measures. He has positioned himself as a national leader on gun control while he is being increasingly eyed as a potential presidential candidate.
He has called for and signed a variety of bills, including measures targeting untraceable "ghost guns," the marketing of firearms to children and allowing people to bring lawsuits over gun violence. That legislation was patterned on a Texas anti-abortion law.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta appealed Carney's initial decision. Bonta, a Democrat, previously said that if the district judge's ruling to block the law were allowed to stand, it "would endanger communities by allowing guns in places where families and children gather."
The California Pistol and Rifle Association's president, Chuck Michel, said in an earlier statement prior to Saturday's ruling that under the law, gun permit holders "wouldn't be able to drive across town without passing through a prohibited area and breaking the law." Michel said criminals are deterred when law-abiding citizens can defend themselves.