USCCA Letter to California Department of Justice
December 15, 2023
Quentin Farris
Department of Justice
P.O. Box 160487
Sacramento, CA 95816
Office of Administrative Law
300 Capitol Mall, Suite 1250
Sacramento, CA 95814
Dear Mr. Farris,
The California Department of Justice recently released “emergency regulations” governing the permitting process and training requirements for the concealed carry of a weapon (CCW). As part of this regulatory process, we are submitting a public comment on behalf of our 800,000+ members nationwide, including 88,000+ members and 450 firearms instructors in California, of the U.S. Concealed Carry Association (USCCA), the nation’s fastest-growing organization dedicated to the education and training of responsible gun owners.
We believe these proposed regulations represent not only a direct effort to undermine the United States Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in Bruen v. NYSPA but also will have untold negative impacts on law-abiding Californians who seek to protect themselves and their families. It is particularly stunning that your Department would seek to do this even as violent crime in California continues to rise. As the San Francisco Chronicle reported recently, “California’s violent crime rate increased for the second year in a row in 2022, while violence in the United States overall declined.”
Through the passage of Senate Bill 2 earlier this year and now this regulation, it has become abundantly clear that the California Legislature and the California Department of Justice (CA DOJ) are not conforming the state’s laws to properly comply with the Bruen decision. Instead, they have decided to double down on restrictive laws that further restrict the ability of law-abiding citizens and responsible gun owners to obtain CCW permits, but which does nothing to keep firearms out of criminals’ hands.
Specifically, with this proposal, the CA DOJ seeks to drastically shrink the pool of eligible firearms safety instructors from California citizens who may receive training to meet CCW permit requirements. Section 31635 of the California Penal Code recognizes eight categories of individuals or organizations that can qualify as Department Certified Instructors. However, Senate Bill 2 has empowered CA DOJ to use its discretion in deciding which types of instructors will be recognized by state and local authorities that issue CCW permits. CA DOJ’s decision to recognize only three of the eight categories – all directly controlled by the state government – would be a grievous error.
By significantly shrinking the number of Department Certified Instructors, millions of law-abiding Californians will lose access to the most critical aspect of being a responsible gun owner: education and training. Furthermore, for Californians who are dismayed by increased violent crime in cities across the state, their ability to seek training and a CCW permit to defend themselves and their loved ones will be significantly undermined. We know that 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, CA DOJ’s proposed regulations will have a disproportionate impact on low-income Californians, who have just as much of a right to bear arms for self-defense as more privileged residents do. By removing such a substantial portion of the supply of certified firearms safety instructors while doing nothing to curb the rising demand for CCW permits, the inevitable result will be increased costs and limited availability of firearms training and education courses. Higher prices and less availability for classes will hit low-income neighborhoods hardest, turning self-defense from a right enjoyed by all to the privilege of a few.
Lastly, the regulations will simply make California less safe. While some state leaders may believe Senate Bill 2 and the resulting regulatory framework around CCW permitting will protect innocent Californians from gun violence, it will have the opposite effect. The inevitable result will be that only criminals, who by definition do not follow the law, will have access to firearms, while law-abiding citizens have fewer and fewer options to obtain and carry a firearm for self-defense.
For the above reasons, we strongly urge you to amend the proposed regulations to recognize all eight categories of Department Certified Instructors in California Penal Code Section 31635. That is the only way to ensure all Californians will have equal access to their fundamental constitutional rights, and it will make the state safer in the process.
Sincerely,
Tim Schmidt
Chairman & Co-Founder
U.S. Concealed Carry Association
