Patriots: For over 26 years, your generosity has made it possible to offer The Patriot Post without a subscription fee to military personnel, students, and those with limited means. Please support the 2024 Year-End Campaign today.

June 10, 2016

Another Second Amendment Clown Act by the Ninth Circus

“There is no Second Amendment right to carry concealed firearms.”

“The great object of my fear is the federal judiciary. That body, like gravity, ever acting, with noiseless foot, and unalarming advance, gaining ground step by step, and holding what it gains, is ingulfing insidiously the special governments into the jaws of that which feeds them.” —Thomas Jefferson, letter to Judge Spencer Roane, 1821

A little over two years ago, we wrote about a surprisingly rational decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, a.k.a. the “Ninth Circus” — so named for its consistently asinine decisions, especially those dealing with the U.S. Constitution and its interpretation. The title of our missive was “The Ninth Circus Gets One Right.” Except not so fast. The wheels of injustice are slow but steady over at the Ninth, and after wending its way through the system as a 2-1 Ninth Circuit panel “win” for the Second Amendment, the surprisingly rational decision was reversed by the en banc court (i.e., the full court). In revisiting Peruta v. City of San Diego, the Ninth ruled that “there is no Second Amendment right for members of the general public to carry concealed firearms in public.”

It’s a Supreme Court layup, if at this point a very dangerous one.

Under the court’s twisted line of reasoning, though a Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms does exist — as Supreme Court decisions District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) and McDonald v. Chicago (2010) definitively ruled — under California law, applicants for concealed-carry licenses must show “good cause” to state law enforcement officials to actually exercise that right by carrying a concealed firearm.

The court then issued one of the most mealy-mouthed sentences in the history of jurisprudence: “The Second Amendment may or may not protect, to some degree, a right of a member of the general public to carry firearms in public.” What? “May or may not”? “Some degree”? “Member of the general public”? “In public”?

Along those lines, let us just say that we may or may not, to some degree, understand anything the Ninth is trying to say. So let’s recap: 1) A right to keep and bear arms exists under the U.S. Constitution; but 2) That right doesn’t really exist in California. If it did, an utterly subjective “good cause” would not be necessary to exercise it.

As to the question of open-carriage of firearms, it should go without saying — at least in our minds — that if the Ninth is going to deny concealed carry (after all, who can meet the ever-exacting “good cause” standard?), despite SCOTUS having ruled a right to “keep and bear arms” indeed exists, then open-carry should be a-ok. Maybe, maybe not. To some degree. For some in the “general public.” Sure. Whatever.

Dissenting Judge Consuelo María Callahan noted, “[T]he defendant counties’ limited licensing of the right to carry concealed firearms is tantamount to a total ban on the right of an ordinary citizen to carry a firearm in public for self-defense. Thus, plaintiffs’ Second Amendment rights have been violated.” And that is exactly the effect this ruling would have if upheld by the Supreme Court.

Indeed, this sad tale of judicial wrongheadedness once again reminds us of how great the loss of Justice Antonin Scalia was, and how critical will be the election of the next president of the United States. A solid, centered Supreme Court is required to maintain constant vigilance against the stupidity of decisions like this one from the Ninth, which tends to have more than its fair share of such decisions. In any case, one thing is certain: If Hillary Clinton wins, she’ll appoint progressives to replace Justice Scalia and two or three more justices. And with that, we can all say goodbye to the Second Amendment as we know it.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.