A concealed weapons permit has become a hot ticket item since an appeals court ruling opened the door for many law-abiding Californians who wish to carry a gun for self-defense.
In the first week after the Feb. 13 ruling, the line of hopeful applicants snaked out the door at Sheriff’s Headquarters in Kearny Mesa, and the requests have held steady.
“There’s a tsunami of them,” said sheriff’s spokeswoman Jan Caldwell, adding that interest in applications has more than doubled since the ruling. But whether those applicants will ultimately be able to secure permits remains to be seen.
Even though Sheriff Bill Gore said he would not fight the ruling, the court must now weigh a last-minute challenge by the state’s attorney general, who has asked for a larger panel of judges to hear the case.
The ruling, by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, stated that the gun permit guidelines used by San Diego County and other urban counties in the state were too restrictive, and ruled that a law-abiding citizen should be able to carry a concealed gun solely for the purpose of self-defense.
The ruling knocked down the “good cause” requirements that the county had been using, such as proof of an imminent threat or having a job that involves transporting large amounts of cash. The decision was strengthened last week when the same three-judge panel ruled similarly in a case out of Yolo County, citing the same self-defense argument.
The court has not yet decided if it will accept the attorney general’s request for a hearing by a larger panel. Others have also told the court they support a rehearing, including the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, state police chiefs’ and police officers’ associations, and the sheriff of Marin County.
“This decision eviscerates law enforcement’s existing authority to restrict concealed weapons,” the law center said in its brief, “and represents an unprecedented change to California law that will put thousands, if not millions, of additional guns on the streets.”
Gun rights advocates have argued that more guns on the streets doesn’t necessarily equate to more violence.
Part-time San Diego resident Edward Peruta, one of the defendants who filed the lawsuit against Gore and the county in 2008, said a look at who is applying for concealed weapons permits under the new rules will likely show law-abiding citizens.
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