If you’ve traveled to California in recent years, you know that, despite the state’s obvious woes (though San Francisco is, hopefully, turning things around), nonresidents can’t legally carry a firearm for self-defense. The situation is only marginally easier for residents. Given the state’s other restrictions on even nonlethal self-defense tools, that’s left visitors with a choice between abiding by rules seemingly crafted to favor criminal predators or ignoring the law and doing what needs to be done. But that may be changing now that a federal judge has ordered that out-of-state members of several gun rights organizations suing California over its gun laws must be allowed to apply for concealed carry licenses.
California’s Legal Gauntlet, Now More Widely Available
“Together with the Second Amendment Foundation, Gun Owners of America, and Gun Owners of California, we sued Attorney General Bonta to force him to recognize the right to carry of nonresidents as part of our lawsuit in CRPA vs. LASD,” the California Rifle & Pistol Association announced. “While the Judge ruled against us for the time being in our argument that California must honor CCW [concealed carry weapon] permits issued by other states (known as ‘reciprocity’), she did agree that California must at least allow residents of other states to apply for a California CCW permit.”
Applicants must be members of one of the plaintiff organizations (yes, you can still join) and must apply in a “California jurisdiction in which they intend to spend time within the subsequent twelve (12) months and attest to that intention under oath in the application,” according to the order by United States District Court Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett. Applicants are also bound by all the usual California rules, including a limited choice of firearms “legal to possess in the state.” California severely limits those that can be commercially sold according to an ever-shifting list of features, though you can still possess many but not all other handguns there if you already owned them or bring them from outside. California CCW licenses are also specific to designated handguns identified by the applicant according to make, model, and serial number.
In other words, all the usual California nonsense—but now, at least, available to out-of-state residents…