A new California law that was signed into effect by Governor Gavin Newsom and was blocked by a federal judge for a second time last week could greatly impact the process for obtaining or renewing a concealed weapons permit.
But in the eyes of San Joaquin County Sheriff Pat Withrow – whose office approves reviews applications for concealed carry permits throughout the county – things will remain largely as business as usual regardless of which way the courts decide to rule on SB2.
The law, which was signed into effect by Newsom along with a host of other gun control measures in September, was stayed by Federal judge Cormac Carney in Southern California the week prior to Christmas before the stay was lifted by another judge and then reinstated last week – effectively prevents the law from going in effect on Jan. 1 as was initially slated.
As written, the law would make many public places in California places where concealed weapons could not be carried.
“SB2 turns nearly every public place in California into a ‘sensitive place,’ effectively abolishing the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding and exceptionally qualified citizens to be armed and to defend themselves in public,” Carney wrote in the blistering opinion that was temporarily halted by a 3 judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals before that stay was dissolved with the full court agreeing to hear arguments in the case in April.
With the law temporarily on hold for at least the next three months, Withrow’s office released a video statement on Monday that addressed how his agency will approach the matter moving forward, and what it will mean for those who currently possess a valid concealed carry permit and those that will be looking to apply in the future.
Withrow said that he feels that education about the law – if it in fact becomes law – will likely be the way his agency will approach issues rather than punitive enforcement.
“We are going to handle this like we handle every law that comes our way – we are going to enforce it the way we see best for our county,” Withrow said. “We’re going to handle it like we did the COVID issue, and we find that with our citizens and our county, education is the best way to handle this.”
Some of the changes that will likely be implemented if the law is ultimately upheld as written will mean that those applying for either a new permit or a renewal will likely have to pay more and wait longer.
Provisions in the law will now require that every person applying – even those that are renewing valid permits – will have to be interviewed again and will have be LiveScanned again. That will likely mean that Withrow will have to bring on additional staff to handle the increased workload, and the fees associated with renewing permits could end up having to be increased to cover the cost of the additional LiveScan.
The law also designates 26 public places where blanket concealed carry is now permitted, but Withrow said in his address that businesses would be able to place a sign inside of the establishment that allows concealed carry and notifies the public of that fact – something that he recommended.
“It lets bad guys know that this is a place where good people that have firearms and have gone through backgrounds and all of the checks and have been approved by us may be carrying a firearm when they are in that business,” Withrow said. “And it gives other people who don’t want to be around people who are carrying guns the choice to not go into that business if they don’t want to.”
To contact Bulletin reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com.
