SALEM, Ore. — Anti-gun states have created a latticework of complicated gun control laws that, when combined, preclude Second Amendment rights for non-residents. That’s the argument put forth in the Gun Owners of America / Gun Owners Foundation suit just filed against Marion County, Oregon, and the city of Salem, on September 11.
The 22-page complaint notes that Oregon law allows municipalities to ban the open carry of firearms, bans the concealed carry of a firearm without a permit, and requires a permit applicant to be a resident (or resident of a contiguous state) while simultaneously failing to recognize other states’ permits to carry.
The result, as the complaint puts it: “In direct contravention of those [Supreme Court] clear holdings, Oregon law provides no avenue for “all Americans” – specifically, those who are not residents of Oregon or residents of a contiguous state – to carry a concealed handgun at all.”
“No other provision of the Bill of Rights works this way,” notes the complaint, a fairly obvious, yet largely unaddressed legal hurdle that is often ignored by the most ardent civil liberties advocacy groups.
The lawsuit was brought by Cynthia Ladd, an Arizona resident and state director for Gun Owners of America, along with Gun Owners of America and Gun Owners Foundation.
Ms. Ladd is the kind of person discussed by the Supreme Court in its recent opinion in Bruen – that is, she is a typical, law-abiding American citizen with ordinary self-defense needs, who cannot be dispossessed of her right to bear arms in public for self-defense in Oregon simply due to her nonresident status.
Ms. Ladd represents the likely hundreds of thousands of Americans who would carry firearms in their travels throughout the country but are otherwise prohibited from doing so by state law simply because of their non-resident status. Yet, protected constitutional activities such as free speech and freedom to assemble face no such restrictions when crossing state lines, making the infringement on Second Amendment liberties particularly egregious.
The complaint cites a July 1, 2025, United States district court decision in Hoffman v. Bonta in which the court held that California could not bar nonresidents from applying for CCW licenses. California later enacted AB 1078, creating a nonresident application process. Just recently in August, the California Department of Justice issued amended guidelines for CCW licensing allowing nonresident applications.
