Another CA Sheriff Says No Plans to Enforce Expanded Gun-Free Zones for Concealed Carriers

Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux is making clear he has no intention of diverting office resources to the enforcement of new gun-free zones for concealed carriers, should such zones take effect.

Boudreaux is referencing the zones created by SB2, a California law which was designed to go into effect January 1, 2024, but which has since been put on hold. SB2 designates numerous “sensitive places” in which licensed concealed carriers are prohibited from carrying guns for self-defense.

On September 26, 2023, Breitbart News reported SB2 was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D). A lawsuit was filed against the new law. Plaintiffs in the case included a number of California concealed carry permit holders, the Second Amendment Foundation, Gun Owners of America, and the California Rifle and Pistol Association.

Judge Cormac J. Carney issued a preliminary injunction against the “sensitive places” law on December 20, 2023, noting that it is “openly defiant to the Supreme Court.”

But Carney’s injunction was put on hold via an administrative stay on December 30, 2023, opening the door for the expanded gun-free zones to take effect January 1, 2024. That hold has now been lifted and portions of SB2 that create a new slate of gun-free zones for licensed concealed carriers remain blocked.

As the litigious atmosphere surrounding SB2 plays out, Sheriff Boudreaux has no plans to enforce new gun-free zones against licensed carriers.

KBAK noted Boudreaux’s “his top priority is the safety of the people of Tulare County, and he will not jeopardize that to enforce a law that challenges someone’s 2nd Amendment rights.”

On January 4, 2024, Breitbart News observed Sutter County Sheriff Brandon Barnes made clear his office has no intention of blindly enforcing a gun control that creates more areas in which concealed carry permit holders are barred from being armed for self defense.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010, a speaker at the 2023 Western Conservative Summit, and he holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.