US Supreme Court refuses to lift restrictions on carrying concealed handguns in California

Second straight year the country’s top court denies acting on Californian law that prevents people from carrying firearms in public places

The Supreme Court is refusing a new invitation to rule on gun rights (AP)

The US Supreme court has refused to hear a challenge on California’s limits on carrying handguns in public.

For the second straight year the country’s top court has denied acting on Californian law that prevents people from carrying firearms in public places.

The law bars people from carrying firearms outside the home but local sheriffs can issue permits to carry a concealed gun in public places if applicants show "good cause."

It is left up to individual sheriffs to determine what constitutes "good cause."

In the case, gun owners James Rothery and Andrea Hoffman – who wanted to carry their weapons in public – sued the state and Sacramento County in 2008, saying the process for granting permits for carrying a concealed handgun was "arbitrary and capricious" and violated their right to bear arms under the US Constitution's Second Amendment.

They also said the law violated their 14th Amendment right to equal protection under the law.

Like the case turned away by the Supreme Court last year, this one was an appeal of a lower court decision upholding a local sheriff's refusal to issue a permit.

The court's decision continued its reluctance to step into a national debate over gun control which has been reignited by a series of mass shootings including a recent massacre at a Pittsburgh synagogue that killed 11 people on 27 October. It has not taken up a major gun case since 2010.

Agencies contributed to this report