Proposed concealed carry regulations will make California less safe

California is widely known for its restrictive laws governing firearm purchases, ownership, and possession in public.  While some may applaud this as “progress,” rising crime in California cities tells a different story. The San Francisco Chronicle recently reported that “California’s violent crime rate increased for the second year in a row in 2022, while violence in the United States overall declined.”

Furthermore, in Los Angeles County, which has had the state’s highest number of gun homicides since 2014, officials have taken exhaustive steps to make it harder for law-abiding citizens to obtain a concealed carry permit that will help protect themselves and their families.

Now, California is on the precipice of implementing Senate Bill 2, which represents the largest step toward completely curbing concealed carry rights that the state has ever taken. Unless an eleventh hour injunction by a U.S. District Court Judge holds, Californians with legal concealed carry permits could soon be prohibited from carrying their firearms in a wide swath of public places – including houses of worship, parks, and public transit – adding to the long list of “gun-free zones” in the state.

Does the state believe this will prevent criminals, who by definition don’t follow the law, from bringing guns into these locations? Of course not, but they do think law-abiding gun owners should not be able to protect themselves in places where violent threats often present themselves. Gun-free zones are one of the most ineffective forms of gun control – many of the nation’s deadliest mass shootings happened where concealed carry was prohibited – because they create vulnerable targets for criminals. It’s foolhardy for Attorney General Rob Bonta to aggressively appeal the federal court’s recent ruling that creating so many gun-free zones is unconstitutional.

Perhaps even more concerning than the gun-free zones are new “emergency regulations” the California Department of Justice put forward, which will coincide with new concealed carry permitting requirements under Senate Bill 2. While the California Penal Code currently recognizes eight different categories of certified firearms instructors, Attorney General Bonta’s office has decided to recognize just three, all under direct state control. This deliberate action reduces the available pool of qualified instructors for Californians seeking firearms education and training mandated by state law.

Attorney General Bonta’s regulations would be a grievous error. By significantly shrinking the number of eligible and qualified instructors, millions of law-abiding Californians could lose access to the most critical aspect of being a responsible gun owner: education and training.  Furthermore, for Californians dismayed by widespread violent crime in cities across the state, their ability to seek training and a concealed carry permit will be delayed or prevented entirely.  Law enforcement cannot be everywhere all at once, and Americans have a fundamental right to self-defense, which is why this proposed effort to restrict that right is so alarming.

Furthermore, the proposed regulations are poised to disproportionately affect low-income Californians, who possess an equal right to bear arms for self-defense. With a significant reduction in the supply of certified firearms instructors, while nothing is done to curb the rising demand for concealed carry permits, the inevitable result will be increased costs and restricted access to training and education courses. Higher prices and less availability for classes will be acutely felt in low-income neighborhoods.

The inevitable result of Senate Bill 2 and AG Bonta’s burdensome regulations will be that more criminals will have firearms while law-abiding citizens have fewer options to obtain and carry a firearm for self-defense. In doing so, California leaders are creating a tremendous imbalance of power that will embolden criminals and punish responsible gun owners.

There is still time for AG Bonta to reconsider his misguided regulations on eligible firearms safety instructors for state-recognized training. It would be prudent for him to not reduce the number of highly qualified professionals from the concealed carry permitting process and instead enhance the accessibility of critical firearms education and training for Californians statewide.

Mike Lowney is the president of Delta Defense, which operates the U.S. Concealed Carry Association, and the board chairman for U.S Concealed Carry Association for Saving Lives Super PAC.