The Democrat-led city of Los Gatos, California, halted a ban on concealed carrying in sensitive places after gun rights activists threatened to sue.
Michel and Associates, a law firm representing California Rifle & Pistol Association and the Second Amendment Foundation, sent a letter to town officials claiming that the concealed carry law infringes on residents’ Second Amendment rights, according to the East Bay Times. The law, which passed this summer, bans firearms from certain designated areas.
“Specifically, the ordinance makes it so that firearms are prohibited to be carried – even by those with a permit – in town property, public transit and places of worship,” the letter reads, pre the outlet.
The law was set to take effect on Sept. 1, but the council met privately in late August and decided to suspend the law’s enforcement until expected legal challenges are settled, the outlet reported. The law will take effect on school property, the East Bay Times noted.
“We’re taking it seriously,” town attorney Gabrielle Whelan said, per the outlet. “The town’s ordinance is modeled on pending state legislation.” Senate Bill 2 was approved in the California state Senate and could take effect on Jan. 1, 2024, if passed in the House and signed by the governor.
One resident who spoke during a hearing on the ordinance lamented his laborious and extensive process of obtaining a concealed carry permit in Santa Clara County, the outlet reported. The resident went through an FBI background check and underwent an interview with the sheriff’s office. He then completed sixteen hours of training, a psych and shooting proficiency test and a background check, all of which cost more than $1,000.
Los Gatos resident Heidi Owens, a member of the gun reform group Moms Demand Action, said the number of school shootings that have occurred in the past year led parents to ponder whether their children should use bulletproof backpacks, the outlet reported. (RELATED: ‘I Felt The Presence Of God’: Shooting Survivors Praise Armed Citizen Who Stopped Mall Shooting)
“It’s just sad that that’s the way it is in our country right now,” Owens said during the council meeting. “So with the lack of action at the federal level and slow progress at the state level, it makes local action even more influential.”
The June 2022 Supreme Court ruling in Bruen v. NY State Rifle and Pistol Association states that any law aimed at preventing Americans from exercising their constitutional right to bear arms in public is unconstitutional.
Indianapolis passed a similar concealed carry ban in July, ruling that no citizen can carry a handgun in public without a license, despite Indiana law prohibiting local governments from regulating “the ownership, possession, carrying, transportation, registration, transfer, and storage of firearms, ammunition, and firearm accessories.”