Dori calls federal concealed-carry ruling ‘stunning’

A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that people do not have a right to carry concealed weapons in public under the 2nd Amendment.

By a 7-4 vote, the panel ruled that law enforcement officials in California jurisdictions can require applicants for a concealed weapons permit to show they are in immediate danger or otherwise have a good reason for a permit beyond self-defense.

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An 11-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued the ruling. Washington state is encompassed in the 9th Circuit along with Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada and Oregon.

Dave Workman, the senior editor at the Second Amendment Foundation in Bellevue, told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson that the Washington state constitution will likely leave people with concealed-carry permits untouched by the ruling.

“We have something called state preemption,” Workman said. “It’s been a law on the books since 1983. Seattle, of course, has tried to challenge that. But the Second Amendment Foundation and the National Rifle Association beat them on that.”

Dori says the 9th Circuit is widely considered the most radical court in the land.

“For many of us, we get a gun as a preventative measure, not because we’re in a defensive mode,” Dori said. “But because we want to be ready. It’s an insurance policy. This is a stunning ruling.”

The appeals court decision overturns a 2014 ruling by a smaller 9th Circuit panel.

CNN reports that the opinion does not make any mention of concealed weapons being unconstitutional, nor does it make any decisions about the act of openly carrying weapons in public.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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