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Second Amendment Rights And Gun Control In Santa Clara
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Multi-State
County:
Santa Clara
Control #:
US-000298
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FAQ
§ 922(g)(1), which prohibits the possession of a firearm by a person convicted of “a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year,” violates the Second Amendment (at least as applied to certain nonviolent offenders).
Location Restrictions in California. A U.S. citizen or legal resident over age 18 may generally carry a handgun anywhere within his or her place of residence, place of business, or on private property owned or lawfully possessed by the citizen or legal resident.
The California law requires applicants to demonstrate “good cause” for carrying a weapon, like working in a job with a security threat — a restriction sharply attacked by gun advocates as violating the Second Amendment right to bear arms.
The Second Amendment was written to protect Americans' right to establish militias to defend themselves, not to allow individual Americans to own guns; consequently, gun-control measures do not violate the U.S. Constitution.
In short, the Supreme Court did its job by announcing that the Second Amendment does not protect assault weapons—precisely because they are meant for the battlefield and are not “in common use at the time for lawful purposes.” Id. at 624-25, 627-28; Kolbe, 849 F. 3d at 131.
However, U.S. Supreme Court decisions of Heller (2008) and McDonald (2010) established that the Second Amendment applies to all states within the Union, and many of California's gun laws are now being challenged in the federal courts.
The Second Amendment was written to protect Americans' right to establish militias to defend themselves, not to allow individual Americans to own guns; consequently, gun-control measures do not violate the U.S. Constitution.
In 2024, California passed several bills strengthening and refining existing laws to facilitate better implementation, including improvements to the state's gun violence restraining order law, secure storage laws, and reporting on firearm dealer inspections.
However, U.S. Supreme Court decisions of Heller (2008) and McDonald (2010) established that the Second Amendment applies to all states within the Union, and many of California's gun laws are now being challenged in the federal courts.
It is generally illegal in California to carry firearms in public, regardless of whether they are loaded or unloaded, openly carried or concealed. That said, there is an exception that allows counties with populations of less than 200,000 to issue licenses to people to open-carry loaded handguns (not long guns).