Published September 23, 2026 at 4:30 PM ET · Updated September 23, 2026 at 6:27 PM ET
Column: in Fresno, some gun owners are treated as more equal than others
1 independent outlet is covering this story, first reported here by Bearing Arms. Verification: Watching (how we verify). Every headline links to the original reporting.
A Bearing Arms column argues that gun owners in Fresno, California are subject to unequal treatment. The writer contends that some gun owners are treated as more equal than others.
Patriot Watch first flagged this story 7 d ago, when Bearing Arms reported it. So far this remains a single-source report. The most recent report came 7 d ago from Bearing Arms.
⚖ The Constitutional Angle
Bruen held that law-abiding citizens cannot be required to show a special need for self-protection to carry a handgun in public, and that any regulation of covered conduct must be justified by the Nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation. McDonald binds state and local governments to that rule. So a Fresno scheme favoring some gun owners over others must rest on history and tradition, not discretion.
New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Kevin P. Bruen, Superintendent of New York State Police 597 U.S. 1 (2022)
Vote: 6-3 · Opinion: Thomas
New York's requirement that applicants demonstrate 'proper cause' — a special need for self-protection distinguishable from the general community — to obtain an unrestricted public-carry license violates the Fourteenth Amendment by preventing law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms in public. The Court held the Second Amendment protects a right to carry handguns publicly for self-defense, and rejected the two-step means-end framework lower courts had applied after Heller.
McDonald v. City of Chicago, Illinois 561 U.S. 742 (2010)
Vote: 5-4 · Opinion: Alito
The Second Amendment right recognized in Heller is fully applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. A four-Justice plurality incorporated the right via the Due Process Clause as fundamental to the Nation's scheme of ordered liberty and deeply rooted in its history and tradition; Justice Thomas supplied the fifth vote via the Privileges or Immunities Clause. The Seventh Circuit's judgment upholding Chicago's and Oak Park's handgun bans was reversed and remanded.
Precedent facts from the PW Law Library — primary-source verified & independently audited
