Gun Advocates Arm for Community Cleanup

With weapons unloaded and holstered, members of the gun rights organization South Bay Open Carry toured Hermosa Beach Saturday, picking up trash and passing out fliers in an effort to inform residents about the right to legally carry firearms in public. 

The Supreme Court ruled in June that municipalities and states must abide by the Second Amendment, which protects that right. And in California, open carry law allows residents to publicly carry unloaded guns.

Gun control organizations have criticized this law as well as the South Bay Open Carry's weekend event. Groups have argued that open carry will cause more violence in communities, and that only police should openly carry guns to protect the public.

But local gun advocates said that they were proud to wear a wide array of firearms at the weekend event, which they bought from various stores in Southern California. There are no licensed weapons dealers in Hermosa Beach, but Torrance is home to 13 licensed gun dealers including Street Heat Productions, the Southern California Sharpshooter and two Big Five stores, according to June data released by the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.