Armed March on the California Capitol (1967)

by
May 2, 1967 · Sacramento, California
The Armed March on the California Capitol
The first pro-2A rally on the 2A Rally Map.
The protest that led to California’s open carry ban.
24 to 30
Armed marchers
87 days
From march to signed law
Still law
Mulford Act in the Penal Code

What Happened

Members of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense walked into the California State Capitol carrying loaded rifles, shotguns and pistols.

Openly carrying a loaded firearm in public was legal in California at the time.

They came to oppose a bill from Assemblyman Don Mulford, a Republican from Oakland, that would end that right.

Kept out of the Assembly chamber, Bobby Seale read the party’s Executive Mandate No. 1 on the Capitol lawn.

Governor Ronald Reagan was on the lawn with a group of eighth-graders and was moved inside as the group arrived.

What Came Next

May 2, 1967
The armed march on the Capitol makes national news.
Spring 1967
Mulford adds an urgency clause and a ban on loaded firearms inside the Capitol.
July 28, 1967
Governor Reagan signs the Mulford Act, with NRA support.
Carrying a loaded firearm in public without a permit becomes a crime.
1968
Congress passes the federal Gun Control Act of 1968.
Today
The Mulford Act remains part of the California Penal Code.

Why It Matters to Gun Owners

A lawful, armed protest at a state capitol was answered with a new restriction within three months.

The right those marchers claimed is the same right gun owners of every background claim today.

The march is the earliest rally on the 2A Rally Map, decades ahead of the modern rally record that begins in 1993.

Accounts of the crowd vary: Capitol Weekly reports about two dozen marchers, History.com reports 30.