Gun rights

The 9th U.S. Circuit of Appeals, perhaps the most liberal circuit, has traditionally won the honor of “most reversed” on cases that reached the Supreme Court.

So it wasn’t surprising last week when the court ruled that the Second Amendment does not guarantee an individual’s right to carry a firearm for self defense.

The Bill of Rights, wrote Judge William A. Fletcher for the 7-4 majority, “does not preserve or protect a right of a member of the general public to carry concealed firearms in public.”

So Americans have a constitutional right to own guns as long as they don’t try to actually carry out that right.

The case centered on California laws that require individuals to justify requests for concealed-carry permits. In some counties, sheriffs have enacted strict standards that essentially preclude most individuals from going out in public with their firearms.

In dissent, Judge Consuelo M. Callahan noted that the ruling “obliterates the Second Amendment right to bear a firearm in some manner in public for self-defense.”

Indeed, the decision leaves the rights of Californians at the whim of local law enforcement officials. It’s also worth asking why law-abiding citizens should need to show “good cause” when they seek to exercise their rights.

Whether the U.S. Supreme Court will take up the matter remains to be seen. But the issue highlights how the presidential election and the subsequent brawl over the open high-court seat will indeed have major ramifications for the future of the Second Amendment.