Today, a U.S. District Court in California has ruled that the state’s ban on standard capacity magazines violates the Second Amendment. Again.
The same court had granted a temporary injunction against the law in 2017 and found the law unconstitutional in 2019, but the state appealed to the Ninth Circuit—where a three judge panel affirmed the District Court’s ruling. California sought an en banc hearing by the full Court of Appeal, and the whole court reversed the trial court’s ruling. The plaintiffs appealed to the Supreme Court, where the Ninth Circuit was reversed and the case remanded by to them for reconsideration in line with the Bruen decision. The Ninth Circuit set the case back to the District Court.
Applying the law as laid out in Bruen, the District Court found that
One government solution to a few mad men with guns is a law that makes into criminals responsible, law-abiding people wanting larger magazines simply to protect themselves. The history and tradition of the Second Amendment clearly supports state laws against the use or misuse of firearms with unlawful intent, but not the disarmament of the law-abiding citizen. That kind of a solution is an infringement on the Constitutional right of citizens to keep and bear arms. The adoption of the Second Amendment was a freedom calculus decided long ago by our first citizens who cherished individual freedom with its risks more than the subservient security of a British ruler or the smothering safety of domestic lawmakers. The freedom they fought for was worth fighting for then, and that freedom is entitled to be preserved still.
The court enjoined the enforcement of the law, but has delayed the injunction for ten days to allow the state to file an appeal.
The new decision can be found here.
” The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. ”
– Ayn Rand