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Everytown Statement on Ninth Circuit Decision Upholding San Diego Firearms Policy

6.9.2016

San Diego Policy Requires an Applicant to Show “Good Cause” Before Receiving Permit to Carry Concealed Handgun in Public

Victory for Public Safety: Common-Sense Gun Laws Not in Violation of Second Amendment

NEW YORK – In response to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling today that upheld a San Diego policy requiring people to show “good cause” before receiving concealed carry permits allowing them to carry hidden, loaded handguns in public, Everytown for Gun Safety released the following statement on the court’s decision.

Everytown previously filed a friend of the court—or “amicus”—brief in the Ninth Circuit, urging it to uphold San Diego’s policy. The brief included analysis of the centuries-long historical tradition of regulating guns in public spaces, a tradition that the majority opinion relied on in upholding San Diego’s policy.

STATEMENT FROM ELIZABETH AVORE, LEGAL DIRECTOR FOR EVERYTOWN:

“In upholding San Diego’s requirement that a member of the public needs a good cause to carry a concealed handgun in public, the Ninth Circuit has delivered a major victory for public safety. The decision is well within the legal mainstream, aligning the Ninth Circuit with courts that have upheld nearly identical laws in New York, New Jersey, and Maryland. It is just the latest judicial recognition that common-sense gun laws do not violate the Second Amendment, and that nothing in our constitution prevents us from passing the types of gun laws that keep our families and communities safe.”