In the wake of Bruen, one thing is clear: You have a right to carry outside of your home. A state can require permits, but the subjectivity of things like “good cause” can’t prevent someone from being an armed citizen if they want to be.
It’s just not how it’s supposed to work.
Yet for one armed citizen in Los Angeles, it seems the subjectivity thing is back and in all the wrong ways.
On Friday, the National Rifle Association (NRA) posted a video to X, formerly Twitter, where Vince Ricci of California spoke about the incident that occurred on November 4, revealing that the state temporarily suspended his conceal carry permit.
“After successfully defending my home and my family and my 5-month-old child, California has now decided to suspend my Second Amendment,” Ricci said in the video. “It was a quiet evening and I was coming home from the gym. Two armed men, masked, hopped over the wall, ran down on me with guns and the most terrifying part was, my wife and my 5-month-old baby were on the other side of that door. In an effort to protect my family, I drew my gun and returned gunfire. As a result of that night, the California government has temporarily suspended my ability to conceal carry.”
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While previously speaking with Fox News Digital, Ricci said officials with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office told him his conceal carry permit was being suspended because he was “yelling” at officers with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) when they arrived at his home.
Ricci told Fox News that he was yelling because deputies were doing a crappy job with their investigation. Frankly, I don’t care why he was yelling. It doesn’t matter.
Ricci acted as an armed citizen. He doesn’t currently appear to have been charged with any crime, meaning it looks like he was justified in discharging his weapon.
As such, there are no legitimate grounds to take his permit.
Armed citizens should be polite to the police after an incident, at least in my opinion, but this is still a free country. You’re not legally required to play nice with other people at all times.
The worst Ricci should have gotten was a talking-to. Instead, they opted to strip him of his concealed carry permit. This is despite the fact that Ricci believes criminals are targeting homes and vehicles in his neighborhood, which means the chances of another armed confrontation is there.
Nothing about this is right. I honestly don’t see how they can get away with taking his permit away, especially for something that ridiculous.
Had the Supreme Court ruled that carrying a gun outside of the home was a privilege, not a right, then maybe. Maybe they could justify it to some degree or another.
Yet even there, they don’t take drivers licenses away from people who are rude to the police, and that has been ruled a privilege. If they won’t do it there, they shouldn’t have done it here.
My hope is that Ricci takes the sheriff’s office to court and gives them the judicial pounding they deserve.
