California, a state far from friendly to citizens’ Second Amendment rights, is starting to move in response to the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen.
The Supreme Court recently struck down New York’s may-issue licensing regime, recognizing that such restrictions on Americans’ rights are unconstitutional. As such, states with these sorts of subjective requirements to lawfully carry concealed must now adhere to the high court’s decision.
As a result, California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) advised law-enforcement agencies in the state that the “good-cause” requirement to obtain a concealed-carry permit is unconstitutional, and should no longer be used.
“[I]t is the Attorney General’s view that the Court’s decision renders California’s ‘good cause’ standard to secure a permit to carry a concealed weapon in most public places unconstitutional,” wrote Bonta in a legal alert.
This is certainly a win for law-abiding Americans who simply wish to exercise their right to self-defense. And it looks like California isn’t the only state now amending its permit rules in the wake of the Bruen decision, as New Jersey and other states also taking similar steps.
Despite this welcome news, something else is also taking place in the Golden State. The California attorney general made available private information on thousands of gun owners recently when it launched the “2022 Firearms Dashboard Portal.” Dates of birth, driver’s license numbers, the type of permit issued and more were reportedly included in what can only be described as a breach of Californians’ privacy.
Bonta claimed in a press release that the new “Firearms Dashboard Portal” was created in an effort to “improve transparency and information sharing for firearms-related data and includes broad enhancements to the platform to help the public access data on firearms in California, including information about the issuance of Concealed Carry Weapons (CCW) permits and Gun Violence Restraining Orders (GVROs).”
“EVIL: California AG [Rob Bonta] on Monday released private info on thousands of gun owners in a major breach of privacy. The newly launched 2022 Firearms Dashboard Portal leaked identifying information on Californians who hold concealed carry permits,” tweeted the NRA.
After the information was leaked, Bonta said in a press release that “unauthorized release of personal information is unacceptable and falls far short of my expectations for this department. I immediately launched an investigation into how this occurred at the California Department of Justice and will take strong corrective measures where necessary.”
As California is a state more-hostile than most to your rights, politicians like Bonta will do everything in their power, even when they lose, to punish law-abiding gun owners. Bonta’s action that resulted in exposing the private information of law-abiding Californians is an egregious one that seeks to put a chilling effect on exercising the peoples’ constitutional rights.
We’ll keep you updated on the state of things in California, and other may-issue states, as they move forward in wake of the recent Supreme Court decision.
