[maestro pistolero]

California: AB144 bans open carry of even an unloaded handgun.

Unloaded open carry, or UOC as it has come to be known in CA, was banned by the CA legislature yesterday. The bill now goes to Governor Jerry Brown for signature.

Conventional wisdom has it that Jerry would sign such a bill faster than you can say 'Linda Ronstadt'.

But Jerry, as CA AG, surprised everyone with a spirited amicus brief in support of plaintiffs in McDonald v. Chicago (NOT Heller vs DC as I previously mis-stated, thanks Al), which he reportedly wrote himself under protest of staffers. In CA, whether Brown signs this new legislation is seen as a test of the actual commitment this Democratic governor has to meaningful gun rights.

Interestingly, at least two cases in CA (Peruta was one) have relied on the fact the UOC was available as a means to satisfy the right to bear. In Peruta, Judge Irma Gonzales ruled that issuance of licenses to carry firearms could be entirely discretionary, because folks could carry an unloaded gun.

Let's set aside for the moment the flawed reasoning (contra Heller) behind regarding an unloaded gun as functional for immediate use for self-defense.

Those cases (perhaps unwittingly) at least acknowledge the right outside of the home. It will be fascinating to see the arguments in those cases shift, as the flawed basis (UOC) for the rulings that are now on appeal will have vanished (should Governor Brown sign the measure).