A federal appeals court has put on hold a judge’s decision that declared the law, set to take effect in 2024, unconstitutional.

A federal appeals court in the US has cleared the way for a law passed by the state of California that bans the carrying of weapons in most public places.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Saturday stayed a Dec. 20 preliminary injunction from a judge who concluded that the Democratic-run state’s law violated citizens’ Second Amendment rights to keep and bear arms US Constitution violated.

The law is scheduled to come into force at the beginning of 2024.

The three-judge panel issued an administrative stay, putting the preliminary injunction on hold until another 9th Circuit panel can consider whether to order an even longer stay pending litigation.

The measure, which was supposed to take effect Jan. 1 after being signed into law by California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in September, was signed into law after a year groundbreaking judgment in June 2022 by the conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court, which expanded gun rights nationwide.

In this case, the Supreme Court struck down New York’s strict gun licensing regime, suggesting a broad interpretation of the Second Amendment as the basis for doing so Gun rights in the USA.

A series of legal challenges

The ruling, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, limited the legislature’s ability to restrict the possession of firearms in public. This also led to a number of legal challenges.

California, which has some of the strictest gun control laws in the U.S., was among a group of states with similar laws to New York and followed suit Supreme Court decisionhas decided to revise its firearms regulations.

Under California’s new law, people will not be allowed to carry concealed weapons in 26 categories of “sensitive locations,” including hospitals, playgrounds, stadiums, zoos and places of worship, regardless of whether they have a permit to carry concealed weapons.

The law, Senate Bill No. 2, also prohibited people from concealing weapons in privately owned commercial establishments open to the public unless the operator of the establishment posts a sign allowing license holders to display weapons on their premises to carry property.

A group of concealed carry permit holders and gun rights groups, including the Second Amendment Foundation, Gun Owners of America and the California Rifle & Pistol Association, filed a lawsuit arguing the new law was unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney, an appointee of former Republican President George W. Bush, agreed on Dec. 20 and blocked the law pending the outcome of the case.

The law “transforms nearly every public place in California into a ‘sensitive place’ and effectively eliminates the Second Amendment right of law-abiding and exceptionally qualified citizens to be armed and defend themselves in public,” Carney wrote.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta immediately asked the 9th Circuit to put that injunction on hold pending appeal, saying that blocking the law would mean “tens of millions of Californians would be at increased risk of gun violence.”

Similar laws passed in other states have also been the subject of litigation. A federal appeals court ruled on December 8 that New York state could ban gun owners from carrying weapons in many “sensitive locations” such as parks, zoos, bars and theaters.