News

Mission Viejo, CA (May 10, 2011) – The Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office agreed to drop all charges against “open carrier” Ryan Burbridge and is currently considering whether it will oppose a petition for a finding of factual innocence to clear Burbridge’s record. This dismissal comes in the wake of California Assembly Bill 144, which is currently pending and would ban the practice of “open carrying” in California, leaving whether or not individuals can carry firearm in any way for self-defense to discretionary permits issued by law enforcement. Jason Davis and The Calguns Foundation defended Mr. Burbridge.
On March 24, 2011, Burbridge was charged with interfering and delaying an investigation for in incident relating to “open carry” activities. in January, 2011, Mr. Burbridge was lawfully carrying a firearm openly and unloaded in a holster at the Los Cerritos mall. Burbridge was approached by Los Angeles County Sheriffs, who sought to determine whether the firearm was unloaded. They approached Mr. Burbirdge in a secluded hallway away from the view of any witnesses.
“My client questioned the officer’s choice of not permitting his wife or anyone to witness the check of his firearm due to previous harassment by other law enforcement performing similar checks,” said Burbridge’s attorney, Jason Davis of Davis and Associates. “When the officers prolonged the firearm inspection, Burbridge requested that the officers check the firearm, which they did.”
Once the firearm was determined to be unloaded there was no longer any authority for continued detainment, Davis stated. “When the officers requested my client’s identification, Burbridge informed the sheriff deputy that he was exercising his right to remain silent, clarified that detention was over, and walked away with his family.” The entire incident lasted less than four minutes. After the incident, the deputy obtained Burbridge’s license plate number from his vehicle in the mall parking lot to identify Burbridge. Charges were subsequently filed against Burbridge for failing to identify himself and delaying a police investigation. “In other words,” said Davis, “my client was charged for exercising his Constitutional rights.”
Burbridge’s lawyers obtained the support of The Calguns Foundation and opened discussions with the District Attorney’s office in an effort to avoid an unlawful prosecution. “Though the Calguns Foundation encourages individuals to not open carry in urban areas due to law enforcement confusion on the topic, it defends those who are falsely prosecuted for exercising their rights,” said Calguns Foundation Chairman, Gene Hoffman. “Unfortunately, it is this confusion that will likely lead to the passage of Assembly Bill 144. Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police have the ability to exercise their discretion to issue carry permits in a way that complies with the Bill of Rights. Sacramento County, as well as many other jurisdictions in California, show their respect for civil rights by granting carry permits to all law-abiding applicants. Jurisdictions, like Los Angeles County, who consider the Bill of Rights optional, bring upon themselves additional police work and create dangerous situations for their officers by denying people like Mr. Burbridge the right to carry a firearm subject to background checks and training.”
“This incident really opened my eyes to what The Calguns Foundation is doing to support our rights and how easily law enforcement confusion can turn our lives upside down with the stress and turmoil of being falsely prosecuted,” said Burbridge. “Without the involvement of the Calguns community and my lawyers Jason Davis and Jason Shyres, I do not think that I would have had the same result.”
The Calguns Foundation (·www.calgunsfoundation.org) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization serving its members through providing Second Amendment-related education, strategic litigation and the defense of innocent California gun owners from improper prosecution. The Calguns Foundation works to educate government and protect the rights of individuals to acquire, own and lawfully use firearms in California.
Contact:
Gene Hoffman
650-275-1015
[email protected]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 24, 2011
SAN JOSE, CA – Tom Scocca, The Calguns Foundation, and The Madison Society have filed a lawsuit seeking to compel Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith to respect the equal protection rights of carry license applicants and conform her carry license policies to state law.
Tom Scocca is a Director of Security Risk Management at a large Silicon Valley semiconductor business. Mr. Scocca has "good cause" that is directly comparable to many of the 70 applicants who have successfully received carry permits in Santa Clara County. Further, Mr. Scocca experienced first hand the effect of unlawful policies that members of Calguns Foundation and The Madison Society experience when attempting to apply for a carry permit from Sheriff Smith.
Tom Scocca faces real threats in performing his job. His work requires him to investigate intellectual property compromise and the theft of valuable company property. Though he is licensed by the state of California to openly carry a firearm, he needs to be able to investigate without raising suspicion. “I've been in law enforcement in the past and am trusted by California to carry a loaded firearm,” Scocca said. “However, even though my good cause is equal to or more worthy than many other applicants who have had their licenses issued, Sheriff Smith arbitrarily denied my application.”
Attorney Don Kilmer, representing the plaintiffs in this case, said, “It’s a shame that Sheriff Smith doesn't take the Constitution seriously. This case really isn't about guns, it is about treating citizens fairly and equally while following California Law.”
“Sheriff Smith has to implement a carry license application process that follows California law and treats similarly situated applicants equally,” said Gene Hoffman, Chairman of The Calguns Foundation. “It is especially troubling that a Sheriff would operate a license process in ignorance of state law and binding court precedent.”
The Calguns Foundation ( www.calgunsfoundation.org) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization serving its members through providing Second Amendment-related education, strategic litigation and the defense of innocent California gun owners from improper prosecution. The Calguns Foundation works to educate government andprotect the rights of individuals to acquire, own and lawfully use firearms in California.
The Madison Society (www.madison-society.org) promotes and preserves the Constitution of the United states through education and litigation. The Madison Society specifically focuses it's litigation efforts challenging laws, ordinances, regulations, and any other restrictions and infringements on the right of citizens to "keep and bear arms."
A copy of the complaint is available at http://www.archive.org/download/gov.uscourts.cand.238467/gov.uscourts.cand.238467.1.0.pdf.
Mr. Scocca, CGF, Madison, and Don Kilmer would like to thank Preston Guillory for his assistance in developing this case.
The Calguns Foundation (www.calgunsfoundation.org) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization which serves its members by providing Second Amendment-related education, strategic litigation, and the defense of innocent California gun owners from improper or malicious prosecution. The Calguns Foundation seeks to inform government and protect the rights of individuals to acquire, own, and lawfully use firearms in California.

CGF “Sunshine Initiative” Continues to Improve License Issuance
San Carlos, CA (November 17, 2010) – The Calguns Foundation announced today that, as part of its Carry License Compliance and Sunshine Initiative, Solano County has recently agreed to modify their concealed weapon licensing fee schedule to bring it into compliance with California law.
As part of this initiative – accompanied by its carry license web portal – The Calguns Foundation has been obtaining and analyzing county information regarding license issuance statistics, policies, and processing. Upon review of Solano County’s fees, it was apparent that the County’s fee ordinance conflicted with California law. “The law is crystal clear as to what requirements sheriffs may impose upon applicants,” said Calguns Foundation board member Brandon Combs, adding, “Yet we find many California counties have numerous policy violations.”
California law permits concealed carry permit applicants to be charged up to $100 (with a maximum of $20 due prior to acceptance of applicants’ “good cause” statements); renewal applicants can be charged up to $25. Solano County’s policy, however, called for initial fees of $229 and renewal fees of $152. As such, these policies required applicants to be overcharged by $209 if their license application was denied, and overcharged by $129 if their application was approved. Renewal applicants were overcharged $127.
On October 4, 2010, CGF’s attorney, Jason Davis of Davis & Associates, submitted a pre-litigation demand letter to the Solano County Sheriff, Gary R. Stanton. This letter detailed the illegalities of Solano County's current fee structure. Upon examination of their policy and at the urging of CGF, Solano County agreed to change their fees to reflect the California statutory scheme for carry licensing.
“Solano set an example of how other counties can spare their taxpayers from needless litigation – they did the right thing once the defective policy was brought to their attention,” said Calguns Foundation's Chairman, Gene Hoffman. “Solano gets it, but we anticipate that many counties will not. It is our goal to address every one of these violations throughout California until all counties are 100% compliant in their written and actual policies.”
For those wishing to apply for a CCW permit, The Calguns Foundation maintains an informational portal to assist applicants in all 58 California counties as part of its recently announced Carry Licensing Compliance and Sunshine Initiative. The information portal is available at www.calgunsfoundation.org/carry
The Calguns Foundation ( www.calgunsfoundation.org) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization serving its members through providing Second Amendment-related education, strategic litigation and the defense of innocent California gun owners from improper prosecution. The Calguns Foundation works to educate government andprotect the rights of individuals to acquire, own and lawfully use firearms in California.
Contact:
Gene Hoffman
650-275-1015
[email protected]

Case Continues Against Yolo County to Secure Right to Self-Defense
Bellevue, WA and San Carlos, CA (October 25, 2010) - The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and the Calguns Foundation have dismissed their case against Sacramento County, California and its Sheriff, John McGinness, after the Sheriff modified his handgun carry permitting policy. Law-abiding Sacramento County residents may now successfully apply for permits to carry handguns by asserting self-defense as a basis for carry permit issuance. A one-year residency requirement has been eliminated, as has policy language that tied self-defense to arbitrary geographic factors.
While Sacramento County has changed its policies, other counties still fail to recognize that self-defense is a legally sufficient reason for issuance of a handgun carry permit. The litigation will continue against Yolo County and its Sheriff, Ed Prieto, on behalf of SAF, Calguns, and Davis resident Adam Richards. Additionally, this past March, Calguns supporter Brett Stewart unsuccessfully asserted self-defense as a basis for seeking a carrying license from Sheriff Prieto . The Sheriff’s written policy states that “self protection and protection of family (without credible threats of violence)” are insufficient reasons to exercise Second Amendment rights. Mr. Stewart will seek to join the litigation as a plaintiff in this case, now styled Richards v. Prieto.
“We are very happy to have been able to work with Sheriff McGinness to assist Sacramento County in revising their policies and practices,” said Gene Hoffman, Chairman of the Calguns Foundation. “Over the past year, more than 30 of our law abiding members and supporters have received licenses to carry firearms with ‘good cause’ statements that are simple variations of self-defense. Even though the Sheriff is retiring at the end of the year, both candidates to replace Sheriff McGinness have publicly stated their support for Second Amendment rights and that they consider self-defense a compelling reason for issuance of gun carry permit.”
“The Second Amendment Foundation will continue working with the Calguns Foundation and keep funding attorney Alan Gura’s lawsuits in California until everyone’s firearms civil rights are fully protected,” added SAF founder Alan Gottlieb. “Together, we will see many more legal victories.”
For those who wish to apply for a CCW permit, the Calguns Foundation maintains an informational portal to assist applicants in all 58 California counties as part of its recently announced Carry Licensing Compliance and Sunshine Initiative. The Sacramento County page has details on the actual procedure and successful good cause statements and is available at http://bit.ly/CGFSacCarry
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The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, the Foundation has grown to more than 650,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.
The Calguns Foundation (www.calgunsfoundation.org) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization which serves its members by providing Second Amendment-related education, strategic litigation and the defense of innocent California gun owners from improper or malicious prosecution. The Calguns Foundation works to educate government and protect the rights of individuals to acquire, own, and lawfully use firearms in California.
Contact:Matt Ross
Matt Ross and Associates
(916) 503-2230 office
(916) 206-9818 cell
[email protected]
Gene Hoffman
650-275-1015
[email protected]

San Carlos, CA (October 18, 2010) - As part of a sweeping campaign to make firearm carry accessible to all law abiding Californians, The Calguns Foundation has announced the launch of its new carry license web portal and Carry License/CCW Compliance and Sunshine Initiative, intended to make carry-related information available to the public at one convenient location and bring local governments into compliance with state law. Included in this initiative is the launch of a new CCW flow chart and application process guide for applicants and sheriff’s departments. The new portal can be found at http://calgunsfoundation.org/carry.
"Detailed information about carry licensing, or CCW (Carry a Concealed Weapon), has historically been kept out of reach by the local authorities who issue carry permits," notes Calguns Foundation Director Brandon Combs. "Many Sheriffs don't want citizens to see to the current reality of the right to bear arms in their county. It's time that we hold these officials accountable." As part of the initiative, Calguns Foundation and its network of volunteers requested from each of California's 58 sheriffs carry license-related documents such as their policy, local forms, and application instructions as well as statements of “good cause” that lead to both granted permits and denials. "After reviewing a small sample of the records, we knew we had to make a real effort to clean up policies that violate state or Federal law across the state."
Visitors to the website will now be able to view county-specific pages that include contact information for their sheriff's office, an editable California Department of Justice standard CCW application form, and all carry license-related local materials. The pages will also incorporate a narrative of each county's progress in affecting policy compliance as well as a link to county-specific discussion threads at Calguns.net. In coming days, copies of each county's accepted "good cause” statements (redacted for applicant privacy) will be available for public inspection. Many applicants will find that their “good cause” has already been accepted by their sheriff.
Firearms owners may now sponsor carry policy reform in counties of their choice by making fully tax-deductible contributions at the new Calguns Foundation online store. With each sponsorship, the donor will show their commitment to carry rights by having their name placed prominently in the "Supporters" section of each sponsored county page. County sponsorship will also be available to vendors for an additional donation.
Having found legal violations in nearly every county's policies and practices related to carry license issuance, The Calguns Foundation will be contacting each to request formal changes in order to bring them into compliance with applicable law and avoid costly litigation. "The California Legislature created uniform licensing procedures for sheriffs to keep carry licensing consistent across the State. Unfortunately, it's become quite the opposite with even firearms friendly sheriffs imposing illegal policies on the issuance of licenses," said Gene Hoffman, Chairman of the Calguns Foundation.
To develop this site, Calguns Foundation requested copies of all CCW applications and their outcomes since January 1, 2007, from the 58 sheriffs. "We want the public to know how each California sheriff determines 'Good Cause' and 'Good Moral Character,’' their only areas of discretion under existing law. There is a substantial public interest in this information since the right to bear arms hinges squarely on these standards, which currently vary from county to county," said Gene Hoffman. “We believe that after the McDonald v. Chicago Supreme Court case, the Second Amendment right to bear arms requires that “good cause” be interpreted as ‘self defense’ and ‘good moral character’ be interpreted as ‘not prohibited from possessing firearms.’ We have already filed a federal lawsuit entitled Sykes v. McGinness challenging the constitutionality of unfettered discretion in carry licensing in Sacramento and Yolo County.”
Calguns Foundation v. Ventura County
Some local authorities are attempting to stall the initiative. In response to a request made in July, Ventura County Sheriff Bob Brooks chose to withhold public records despite a 1986 California Supreme Court case (CBS, Inc. v. Block), which held that such records are subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act. After several attempts to persuade the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office to follow long-established California law and make their records available for the public, Calguns Foundation was forced to file a lawsuit last Friday in Ventura County Superior Court. The lawsuit seeks a court order to compel Ventura's full compliance with the Public Records Act.
"I am not sure what they are hiding, but Ventura's suppression of records previously held by the courts to be public should concern all those who expect accountability from public officials," said Mr. Jason Davis, who brought the case on The Calguns Foundation’s behalf. "This is the first in a potential string of lawsuits to be filed against local agencies should they continue to disregard the public's interest in their carry licensing programs. Not only does the Act require these authorities to release the information, the very application Sheriff Brooks refused to produce reminds applicants that the applications are public records which could be disclosed upon request. It makes no sense for counties to fight losing battles in these tough economic times."
For more information on this and other Second Amendment issues, please visit www.calgunsfoundation.org.
The Calguns Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization which serves its members by providing Second Amendment-related education, strategic litigation and the defense of innocent California gun owners from improper or malicious prosecution. The Calguns Foundation works to educate government and protect the rights of individuals to acquire, own and lawfully use firearms in California.
Contact:
Gene Hoffman
650-275-1015
[email protected]