by WorldTribune Staff, March 21, 2023
A federal judge has ruled that California can’t ban residents from purchasing modern handguns.
District Judge Cormac J. Carney ruled on Monday that California’s requirement that all new pistols sold in the state include a series of uncommon or even theoretical safety devices is unconstitutional, The Reload reported.
Carney ruled the regulation, part of the Unsafe Handgun Act (UHA) of 2001, which has resulted in no new handgun models being sold to California residents in nearly a decade, violates the Second Amendment,
“Californians have the constitutional right to acquire and use state-of-the-art handguns to protect themselves,” Judge Carney wrote in his preliminary injunction in the case Boland v. Bonta. “They should not be forced to settle for decade-old models of handguns to ensure that they remain safe inside or outside the home.”
The Reload noted that the UHA “initially barred the sale of any new pistol models that didn’t include a loaded chamber indicator or magazine disconnect safety. In 2013 the state expanded the requirements to include so-called microstamping technology. In theory, microstamping would enable a gun to leave identifiable marks on every spent casing with the goal of helping police solve crimes. However, there has never been a production gun in the world that has implemented the theoretical technology.”
Due to the restrictions enforced under the UHA, Californians have been mostly limited to buying pistols first introduced to the market more than 15 years ago.
“These regulations are having a devastating impact on Californians’ ability to acquire and use new, state-of-the-art handguns,” Judge Cormac wrote. “Since 2007, when the [loaded chamber indicator] and [magazine disconnect safety] requirements were introduced, very few new handguns have been introduced for sale in California with those features. Since 2013, when the microstamping requirement was introduced, not a single new semiautomatic handgun has been approved for sale in California.”
Plaintiffs argued the handgun restrictions infringe on their Second Amendment rights and are unlike any regulation from the founding era, which is the key measure for constitutionality under Bruen. California argued the restrictions don’t directly implicate the Second Amendment because they don’t completely ban the ownership of all handguns, just those it considers “unsafe.”
Judge Cormac found Bruen doesn’t require a total ban for a gun regulation to impact gun rights. He further rejected attempts to justify the restrictions by balancing their effect on gun owners with the state’s claims they prevent accidental shootings or help law enforcement.
“The Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear arms for self defense,” Judge Cormac said. “That right is so fundamental that to regulate conduct covered by the Second Amendment’s plain text, the government must show more than that the regulation promotes an important interest like reducing accidental discharges or solving crime. Rather, to be constitutional, regulations of Second Amendment rights must be ‘consistent with this Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.’ ”
The California Rifle and Pistol Association (CRPA), one of the plaintiffs in the case, celebrated the decision as a win for gun owners in the state.
“For decades, this ‘roster’ law has deprived law-abiding citizens of the right to choose a handgun appropriate for their individual needs,” Chuck Michel, CRPA president, told The Reload. “The loaded chamber indicator, magazine disconnect, and microstamping requirements were difficult or impossible to satisfy, so the number of different models of approved handguns available to buy dropped to barely 200. If we can hold on to this great Second Amendment win, people will be able to choose from among thousands of the latest, greatest, and safest handguns made today.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said he hasn’t yet decided on whether or not to appeal.
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