Today, in a sharply split decision, a majority of the en banc court of the Ninth Circuit held that concealed carry outside the home is not protected, at all, by the Second Amendment. In so holding the en banc majority declined to decide whether the Second Amendment protects open carry outside the home, stating that "[i]n light of our holding, we need not, and do not, answer the question of whether or to what degree the Second Amendment might or might not protect a right of a member of the general public to carry firearms openly in public." The majority dismissed the reality that California law flatly prohibits open carry outside the home, reasoning that plaintiffs had challenged only the "good cause" requirement for concealed carry, not the law banning open carry. The majority decision drew sharp dissents from several members of the en banc court. The next step for the plaintiffs would be to file a petition for certiorari with the Supreme Court, which is now sitting, since Justice Scalia's death in February, with only 8 members. That reality may make certiorari difficult to obtain.
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