A federal appellate court has ordered a rehearing of a case involving Yolo County’s longtime concealed-weapon permit policy, which calls for residents to first demonstrate “good cause” before obtaining a license.
Oral arguments in Richards v. Ed Prieto, County of Yolo are slated for the week of June 15 before an “en banc” panel, meaning they will be heard by 11 members of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal in San Francisco.
A three-member appellate court panel ruled in March 2014 that Yolo’s permit policy “impermissibly infringes on the Second Amendment right to bear arms in lawful self-defense.” The decision overturned a previous ruling in U.S. District Court in Sacramento that upheld the policy.
Yolo County Sheriff Ed Prieto, whose agency petitioned for the rehearing following last year’s ruling, said he was pleased to learn the larger appellate court panel would hear the case “because it’s going to affect the entire state at some level.”
“Why should three people make a decision for the entire state?” Prieto said in an interview Tuesday. “Whatever the court decides, we’ll abide by it.”
As currently written, Yolo County’s concealed-weapon permit policy largely mirrors those of other counties, requiring applicants to be local residents at least 21 years of age, of good moral character and free of criminal convictions, among other criteria.
But it also calls for applicants to demonstrate “good cause” for seeking the license, such as being the victim of a violent crime, or a business owner who carries large amounts of cash or works in remote areas and is “likely to encounter dangerous people and situations.”
Self-protection and protection of family, absent a threat of violence, is considered an invalid reason for requesting a permit.
As of Tuesday, Yolo County had 217 concealed-weapon permits issued.
The en banc panel also will conduct a rehearing of a similar case, Peruta v. County of San Diego, which like Yolo County has required a good-cause showing among concealed-weapon permit applicants.
A divided three-justice panel voted 2-1 in November to uphold a previous ruling that required the San Diego County sheriff to issue concealed-weapon permits to most law-abiding citizens who apply for one.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene