Thursday, June 9, 2016

9th Circus Upholds Black Codes

In the period from 1865 forward, since former slaves were now permitted to own and carry guns, the southern states came up with a number of ways to limit this practice. Most commonly they required anyone wishing to buy or carry a pistol to be certified by the local law enforcement as to their "good character" and/or real need. Needless to say no blacks seemed to meed the sheriffs standards for character and as long as you hadn't actually been lynched, you obviously had no need.

The 9th circuit has ruled that these old Jim Crow relics are still valid in California and in the rest of the circuit.
Lawmakers are free to enact “any prohibition or restriction a state may choose” on the carrying of concealed guns, Judge Fletcher said.
A Second Amendment right to carry a firearm openly in public may exist, but the Supreme Court hasn't answered that question, Judge Fletcher wrote.
I had thought that Harris had established a right to carry but I could be wrong. As to concealed carry, that has been a state prerogative for some time with several state constitutions repeating the Second Amendment pretty much verbatim but adding a clause noting that the right to bear arms does not cover concealed carry.
The San Francisco-based Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 7-4 ruling, upheld a California law requiring residents to show “good cause” for carrying a concealed handgun.
Under the California law, personal safety alone doesn't qualify as good cause, which is defined by county sheriffs.
 I had always thought that defending my life was about as good a cause as any. Of course the old medieval standard was that your life had more value if you were a member of the nobility and that seems to still be in place.

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