A divided federal appeals court struck down California’s ban on open carry of firearms in most parts of the state, finding it violates the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment.

A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled 2–1 in favor of a gun owner, finding the state prohibition on open carry of guns in counties that have more than 200,000 residents violates the constitutional right to keep and bear arms.

Around 95 percent of the Golden State’s inhabitants reside in counties of that size.

Circuit Judge Lawrence VanDyke said that the state law was inconsistent with the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen. That decision held that there is a constitutional right to bear arms in public for self-defense, and that gun restrictions must adhere to “this nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulations.”

“The historical record makes unmistakably plain that open carry is part of this Nation’s history and tradition,” the judge said in the panel’s majority opinion.

“It was clearly protected at the time of the Founding and at the time of the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment,” which applied the Second Amendment to the states. “There is no record of any law restricting open carry at the Founding, let alone a distinctly similar historical regulation,” he said.

VanDyke said upwards of 30 states generally allow open carry, and that until 2012 California had allowed residents to carry holstered handguns openly.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Reuters contributed to this report.