BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation today is hailing a ruling by a three-judge panel in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that held California’s ban on so-called “large-capacity magazines” (LCMs) violates the Second Amendment.
“While this was not our case,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb, “this is a victory for all gun owners, and the majority opinion reflects our arguments in an amicus brief we submitted along with several other organizations. Most importantly, the panel majority used strict scrutiny to make its determination, and that is a huge milestone.”
The case is known as Duncan v. Becerra. The 66-page majority opinion was written by Circuit Judge Kenneth K. Lee.
SAF was joined in its amicus brief by the California Gun Rights Foundation, Firearms Policy Coalition, Firearms Policy Foundation, Armed Equality, San Diego County Gun Owners, Orange County Gun Owners, Riverside County Gun Owners, and California County Gun Owners.
In his ruling, Judge Lee observed, “We understand the purpose in passing this law. But even the laudable goal of reducing gun violence must comply with the Constitution. California’s near-categorical ban of LCMs infringes on the fundamental right to self-defense. It criminalizes the possession of half of all magazines in America today. It makes unlawful magazines that are commonly used in handguns by law-abiding citizens for self-defense. And it substantially burdens the core right of self-defense guaranteed to the people under the Second Amendment. It cannot stand.”
California had banned possession of ammunition magazines that hold more than ten cartridges.
“This was a fantastic ruling,” Gottlieb observed. “The court went into considerable detail about the history of magazine development and essentially follows the logic of our amicus, for which we are all very proud.”
The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 650,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.
I may be wrong, but it is my understanding this has already – again – been reclosed. Open for 2 days, like last time, rechallenged, and I was cruising around the web 2 nights ago and saw one of the bigger outlets with a big banner;
WE ARE NOT SHIPPING MAGAZINES OVER 10 ROUNDS TO CALIFORNIA
And since I suspect few retailers in CA have kept any in stock……
As an aside; I cannot help but believe that virtually EVERY gun ‘law’ in California is unconstitutional, period.
I always get confused about magazine capacity, whats the limit for organized crime, cartels, gangs, criminal misuse?
+1
Outstanding decision made on sound fact, now let’s see what happens to the other states that have implemented the ten round limit on magazines that followed in California’s foot steps. I bet Bloomberg is sweating bullets right now. The 2nd amendment cannot be modified or played with. I want to hear what Hickenlooper has to say now after he passed that garbage here in Colorado after Bloomberg made promises to him. Hickenlooper is running for a Senate seat the crook that he is. As we stated in the military “Standby to standby because this is going to be good!”