US appeals court rules 2nd amendment protects the right to openly carry firearms.

A man open carrying in Michigan. LA Times/AP.

The US 9th circuit court of appeals has ruled that the 2nd amendment protects the right to openly carry firearms. LA Times. In a 2-1 ruling the court said that the state of Hawaii violated the 2nd amendment rights of a citizen there who was denied a permit to open carry a firearm. This reversed a lower court ruling that said the right to keep and bear arms only applied in the home. The case took the opposite conclusion on a concealed carry ban in California, which ruled there was no right to conceal carry a firearm. With opposing rulings on close issues the Supreme Court would usually intervene but the court has been reluctant to rule on gun rights issues for some time now.

EDIT: The ruling can be found here.

My Comment:

A huge win for gun rights. Assuming this doesn't get reversed at the Supreme Court, this ruling has pretty much destroyed the laws in any state that doesn't have open carry. The Supreme Court could always reverse the ruling but given they never take gun rights cases these days anyways and the current makeup of the court, I doubt that would happen. And after Kavanaugh gets confirmed he will likely be the vote needed to confirm the ruling anyways. More likely though, the court will just let it stand. 

It does sound that the case will continue to allow permits to be required to carry but it sounds like it will be on a shall issue basis, not may issue. This means that anyone can get a permit to open carry assuming the state has a reason to deny the permit. This isn't great but it is a huge improvement of the current system where many states ban open carrying completely. It's hard to tell how this will play out though because the reports I have read have had very little about the implications of this ruling. 

Oddly, we now have conflicting rulings on both open and concealed carry. The 9th circuit court has said that you have a right to open carry but no right to conceal carry. That makes zero sense to me because if everyone is openly carrying firearms anyways, what is the point in banning concealed carry? I mean if everyone is walking around with a pistol on their hip or a rifle slung on their back, what's the reasoning of banning it concealed? I am guessing that the old ruling on conceal carry is going to go away. 

I also have to say that I find it hilarious that this is the way the court ruled. Among gun rights advocates concealed carry is much more popular that open carry. Generally speaking open carry advocates are seen as extremists that give other gun rights owners a bad name for wanting something "unrealistic". It seems as though the shoe is on the other foot now. 

I also have to say that all 50 states now have some process for concealed carry. Some of the "may issue" states are defacto bans but you would think that with CCW being more popular the court would have ruled in favor of it. 42 states require licencing for CCW with 8 requiring nothing, while open carry is allowed without permits in 31 states with 15 states requiring a licence and the rest having a ban. With that being the case you would think that CCW would have won out but here we are I guess. 

The situation is pretty much now what we have in my state of Wisconsin. I don't have a CCW permit so I can't conceal carry. However I have an absolute right to carry a gun openly without any permit at all. That just seems dumb but it's been the status quo in Wisconsin since CCW was legalized here in 2011. Before then CCW was illegal but open carry was fine, though you would get a lot of attention from the police. 

I am not sure how exactly this will play out. There are a lot of state laws that will have to be adjusted in light of this ruling and it may have to go to the Supreme Court. For the time being I wouldn't open carry in a state that still has bans on it, even if those bans are likely to go away. 

The most shocking thing about this is that the ruling came from the 9th Circuit Court. The 9th is the most liberal in the nation and often rules against conservative issues, sometimes purely out of spite without regard to the law. This ruling involved a few of the Republicans on that court but it is still a shocking descion coming from them.