California Attorney General Rob Bonta is pulling out all the stops, filing for an en banc review of a recent open carry ruling that dared to challenge the Golden State’s iron-fisted gun control regime. The move comes hot on the heels of a federal court’s smackdown against California’s blanket bans on openly carrying unloaded handguns and long guns in public, a decision rooted in the Second Amendment’s plain text and Heller’s enduring legacy. Bonta’s desperate gambit? Invoke the specter of fear, chaos, and intimidation, quoting his own source text pearl: Open carry in urban environments does not make the public safer; it spreads panic and destabilizes daily life. Translation: Californians can’t handle the sight of a holstered sidearm because feelings trump constitutional rights—classic progressive sleight of hand.

Let’s dissect this fearmongering with cold facts. Open carry of unloaded firearms was legal in California for decades until AB 144 and other nanny-state laws banned it in 2012, ostensibly to prevent intimidation. Yet data from states like Arizona, Texas, and even constitutional carry havens shows zero spike in crime from lawful open carry; in fact, violent crime rates often plummet post-reform. Bonta’s panic narrative echoes the same debunked hysteria that fueled post-1960s gun grabs—think Mulford Act after the Black Panthers’ armed Capitol strut. The irony? Real intimidation comes from armed criminals who ignore laws, not law-abiding citizens exercising their enumerated right. This en banc push isn’t about safety; it’s a stalling tactic to preserve Sacramento’s monopoly on force, buying time for more ballot-box stuffing or judicial shopping.

For the 2A community, this is a clarion call: victory in the district court (Peruta v. Bonta echoes?) means nothing without vigilance. An en banc reversal by the Ninth Circuit—infamously left-leaning—could ripple nationwide, emboldening blue-state AGs from New York to Illinois to double down on sensitive places expansions and may-issue permitting scams. But here’s the silver lining: SCOTUS’s Bruen framework demands historical analogues, and California’s historical record for open carry bans is thinner than Bonta’s evidence. Rally the amicus brigades, flood the docket with real-world data from open-carry success stories, and prepare for cert. This isn’t just a California cage match; it’s the frontline in reclaiming the public square for free men and women. Stay strapped, stay legal, and keep fighting—the right to bear arms isn’t negotiable.