Gun up

Thanks to a lack of action from San Diego sheriff Bill Gore, gun-control advocacy group Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence will not be allowed to push for tighter restrictions on concealed weapons permits statewide, a federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday (November 12).

In February, the court struck down a San Diego County law requiring applicants wishing to carry concealed weapons to demonstrate a "good cause" beyond simple self defense. Gore then announced that he would not appeal the decision.

California Attorney General Kamala Harris and the Brady Campaign then moved to intervene, seeking a rehearing on behalf of the state. Their motion was denied, with the court ruling that the state had waited too long after Gore's abandonment of the case to act.

"The movants have not met the heavy burden of demonstrating 'imperative reasons' in favor of intervention on appeal," wrote a two-judge majority on the three-judge panel. "The stage of the proceedings, the length of the delay, and the reason for the delay all weigh against timeliness."

Judge Sidney Thomas, in dissent, argued that the state should have been allowed to intervene because the decision "directly involves the entirety of California's handgun regulation scheme, and will greatly impact any future litigation pertaining to the scheme's constitutionality."