Last week, a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel blocked a stay of a lower court injunction that prevented California’s SB2 concealed carry ban law from being enforced. The law designated virtually every public space in the state a no-go zone, making lawful concealed carry all but impossible.
Governor Gavin Newsom didn’t take the news well. He took to Twitter X to attack the judges who thwarted the carry ban and tried to whip up hysteria about the supposed dangers Californians now face under the state’s current gun control regime.
In doing so, the oleaginous chief executive only revealed himself as a demagogue and a bully. A few points about his diatribe . . .
1. Newsom and his allies keep leaving out the fact that the lower court’s injunction merely preserves the status quo. California has never previously banned lawful carry in any of the places the California Rifle & Pistol Association lawsuit challenged, and it has never been a problem before.
2. People with CCW permits are overwhelmingly law-abiding. The CRPA presented extensive data to prove that, and Newsom’s DOJ didn’t even try to rebut it in court. If CCW permit holders were their own country, the homicide rate would be comparable to Switzerland’s. This current attack on the Ninth Circuit panel judges is a craven political reprisal for correctly applying the law under Bruen.
3. Another thing Newsom leaves out is that the law enforcement community opposes SB2, so much so that the Police Officers Research Association of California wrote a declaration in support of CRPA’s clients.
4. “Extremist” judges? While we can make educated guesses, we don’t actually know who the judges on Ninth Circuit the panel were. Presumably, Newsom doesn’t either. He’s just blindly attacking the judges. There have now been a few Democrat-appointed federal judges who have enjoined similar “sensitive place” laws, including Judge Leslie Kobayashi who stopped Hawaii’s similar law. Newsom is the extremist here for trying to eliminate the right to carry, not the judges who correctly applied the law.
5. Newsom says he needs an unconstitutional constitutional amendment to change all of this. We agree. Thanks for admitting SB2 is clearly unconstitutional, Governor. We’ll be sure to include that in our appellate briefing.
Remember a few years ago when the media were outraged — OUTRAGED! — when President Trump attacked one federal district judge? Governor Newsom has now attacked several, even lashing out at anonymous Ninth Circuit judges despite Democrat-appointed judges issuing similar rulings in other states.
Will there be any similar outrage expressed at Newsom’s unhinged flailing at judges for applying laws in accordance with the Constitution? Don’t hold your breath.
Konstadinos Moros is an Associate Attorney with Michel & Associates, a law firm in Long Beach that regularly represents the California Rifle & Pistol Association (CRPA) in its litigation efforts to restore the Second Amendment in California. You can find him on his Twitter handle @MorosKostas. To donate to CRPA or become a member, visit https://crpa.org/.
This post was adapted by SNW from tweets posted by Konstadinos Moros.