‘Extremely Subjective’: Lawyer Sounds Off On California’s Plan to Defy SCOTUS On Carry Permits

A legal expert discussed how California intended to sidestep the Supreme Court’s ruling regarding the issuance of concealed carry permits during a Fox News appearance Monday night.

“California is signaling very hard that it is not going to make it easy for law-abiding citizens like myself sitting here in San Francisco to be able to go and get a concealed carry permit, which is now my right under the new Supreme Court precedent,” Harmeet Dhillon of Dhillon Law Group told Fox News host Laura Ingraham, adding that the only thing Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta of California was changing in the state was going to a “shall issue” system.

The Supreme Court struck down New York’s requirement that a person applying for a concealed carry permit show “good cause” in a 6-3 ruling written by Associate Justice Clarence Thomas.

Both gun rights activists and advocates for gun control agree that California’s laws may be targeted next, according to The Bakersfield Californian.

The National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) described California’s issuance of concealed carry permits prior to the Supreme Court’s ruling Thursday as “Rights Restricted-Very Limited Issue” on its website.

Dhillon told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the National Association of Gun Rights and the National Foundation for Gun Rights were monitoring the situation, and that they would need to wait for citizens to be denied.

“If it’s burdensome, I might file a lawsuit,” she told TheDCNF.

“But he said it is okay for the sheriff or the police department to still ask, what is your reason? What is your good cause for having a weapon?” Dhillon told Fox, adding that Bonta also was supporting the “extremely subjective” requirement that an applicant prove “good moral character” to receive a permit.

“We are working with the Governor and the legislature to advance legislation that is both constitutional and will maintain safety for Californians,” Bonta said in a release issued Thursday during which he announced California’s requirement to show “proper cause” to receive a permit to carry a handgun was “probably unconstitutional.” “In the wake of mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, and with gun deaths at an all-time high, ensuring that dangerous individuals are not allowed to carry concealed firearms is more important than ever. The data is clear and the consequences are dire — more guns in more places make us less safe.”

“[T]he Court’s decision in Bruen does not affect the other statutory requirements governing public-carry licenses, issuing authorities must still require proof that (1) “the applicant is of good moral character,” (2) the applicant is a resident of the relevant county or city (or has their principal place of business or employment in that county or city), and (3) the applicant has completed a course of training,” Bonta wrote in an alert sent to California law enforcement agencies Saturday.

Bonta did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TheDCNF.

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