The Wire · CalGunHub

Ninth Circuit takes open-carry case en banc, wiping out panel ruling

Published April 15, 2026 · Updated October 12, 2026

The order vacated the January 2026 panel decision against California's urban open-carry ban, leaving the restrictions in effect.

Written by the CalGunHub desk from public reporting

Who this affects: The April 15, 2026 order erased the earlier panel ruling, which never took effect. California's prohibition on openly carrying firearms in counties of 200,000 or more residents remains in force, and the state Department of Justice told law-enforcement agencies on April 16, 2026 that the laws remain enforceable. The en banc Ninth Circuit will decide the case anew; as of October 12, 2026, that decision was still pending. This is general information, not legal advice.

The Ninth Circuit on April 15, 2026 ordered Baird v. Bonta, No. 24-565, reheard en banc, vacating the January 2, 2026 panel opinion that had struck down California's ban on open carry in counties with 200,000 or more residents (163 F.4th 723).

With vacatur, that panel ruling has no legal force, and California's open-carry restrictions remain in effect. The California Department of Justice issued a law-enforcement bulletin on April 16, 2026 advising that the open-carry laws remain enforceable.

Under the court's rules, the en banc court consists of the chief judge and 10 randomly drawn judges. In this case that is Chief Judge Mary Murguia and Judges M. Smith, Christen, Nguyen, Owens, Friedland, R. Nelson, Miller, Bade, Lee, and De Alba.

The vacated panel opinion, authored by Judge Lawrence VanDyke, had held 2-1 that the urban open-carry prohibition violates the Second Amendment and had reversed summary judgment for the state. California Attorney General Rob Bonta petitioned for rehearing en banc on January 16, 2026.

Update: The en banc court heard argument in Seattle on June 3, 2026, and the case was submitted. As of October 12, 2026, the en banc decision remained pending, according to the Ninth Circuit's pending-en-banc-cases page, and the open-carry restrictions continued to apply statewide.

En banc rehearing is reserved for questions of exceptional importance or to maintain uniformity of the court's decisions, and the order means the full complement of judges will reconsider whether California may prohibit open carry in its most populous counties. The case began in the Eastern District of California with plaintiff Mark Baird's challenge to the restrictions as applied to urban counties, and it has already made one round trip to the Supreme Court on a Bruen remand before the panel's January ruling.

Informational only, not legal advice. Facts are attributed to the sources listed above.