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A federal appeals court on Thursday ruled it was California’s first law requiring California owners to undergo background checks to purchase ammunition, declaring the constitution is unconstitutional and violated the second amendment rights to hold arms.
In its 2-1 decision, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a permanent injunction by a lower court judge that prevented the enforcement of state law.
Circuit Judge Sandra Ikta said the law “confidentially constrains” the right to maintain and endure weapons and failed to prove that the state was consistent with the country’s historical tradition of firearms regulations required under the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision, New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Brune.
“By exposing background checks for Californians to Californians on Californian ammunition purchases, the background check regime of California ammunition violates the fundamental right to maintain and endure weapons,” Ikta wrote.
Request background checks for California judges gun control law ammunition purchases
The federal court of appeals ruled that California law requiring gun owners to undergo background checks to purchase ammunition is unconstitutional. (Getty Images)
Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the ruling was a “face slap” in Golden State officials’ efforts to enact firearm restrictions to curb gun violence.
“The powerful gun laws are saving lives, and today’s decision is a slap in California towards the progress that has progressed in recent years to keep the community safer from gun violence,” Newsom said in a statement. “Californians vote to request background checks on ammunition, and their voices should be important.”
“Our families, schools and neighborhoods deserve the most basic protection against preventable gun violence and are considering legal options,” state Attorney General Rob Bonta, who is also a Democrat.
California voters demanded that gun owners undergo their first background checks to purchase ammunition in 2016, and that they would purchase a four-year ammunition permit.
Lawmakers later revised measures to require background checks on each ammunition purchase.
California officials said they received 191 reports last year of “armed, prohibited individuals” blocked through background checks from ammunition purchases.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a permanent injunction by a lower court judge. (Reuters/Bing Guang)
The state can ask the 11-Judge Appeal Court Panel or the US Supreme Court to consider the decision.
Plaintiffs included Kim Lord, who won three Olympic gold medals in the shooting event, and the California Rifle and Pistol Association.
In a joint statement, the Gun Group president and general counsel said the decision was a victory over being “in charge of government gun control,” and Lord described it as “a major victory for all gun owners in California.”
The injunction was issued by US District Judge Roger Benitez in San Diego. A panel of the Court of Appeals put the injunction on hold, but the California appeal was rolled out.
California argued that due to restrictions on some old firearms, colonial rules supported background checks, including colonial rules that required licenses to produce gunpowder, disarmament of those who refused the “Purchase of Allegiance” around 1776, and late 19th century rules that required government approval to carry concealed weapons.
“Excessive” state tax on guns, ammunition sales are targets for new GOP crackdown
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the ruling was a “face slap” by Golden State officials in an effort to curb gun violence. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, file)
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Challenging Circuit Judge Jay Byby accused the nation of ignoring most of the Supreme Court’s guidance by effectively declaring restrictions on ammunition sales, given the unlikely that the state would point to the same historical analogue.
The law “is not a strong regulation that meaningfully restricts the right to maintain and endure weapons,” Byby wrote.
All three judges on Thursday’s panel were appointed by the Republican president, but Democratic presidential appointees are a majority in the Ninth Circuit.
Ikta and Byby were appointed by former President George W. Bush, and Circuit Judge Bridget Bade, who joined the majority on Thursday, was appointed by President Donald Trump.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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