California’s discriminatory justification for ammo laws “constitute a long, embarrassing, disgusting, insidious, reprehensible list of examples of government tyranny towards our own people.”
Earlier this week Judge Roger Benitez delivered a stinging rebuke to California’s ammunition registration laws (Rhode v Bonta) and issued a permanent injunction, thereby declaring the law invalid.
No doubt the sting hit both Governor Newsom and his Attorney General, Rob Bonta right between the eyes.
Their immediate response was to flex their supposed anti-gun muscles and promising to seek an emergency stay on the injunction, while spouting a bunch of bogus proclamations on how ammunition registration saves lives. Regardless of all the chest pounding, the bottom line is that California’s ammunition registration laws are null and void. Judge Benitez has already denied Bonta’s request for a stay on the injunction, and the Attorney General was forced into publishing a bulletin announcing that that:
- The DOJ background check system is not to be used.
- Purchases or transfers of legal ammunition need not be conducted through a licensed firearm dealer or ammunition vendor.
- Purchases or transfers of legal ammunition need not be completed in a face-to-face transaction.
We are quite certain that requiring his staff to draft such a notice likely made Bonta’s blood boil. Welcome to our world, Bonta.
No doubt Bonta will now try to secure a stay with the February Emergency Motions Panel (EMP) of the 9th. If the EMP does not issue a stay, then the injunction will be in effect until at least May of 2024. If they do issue a stay, then the ammo registration law is back in effect. At that point, a “merits” 3 judge panel will then be appointed, and they ultimately can decide to either keep or remove the emergency stay.
Confused yet? Our attorneys aren’t. We’ll be on this case like a dog on a bone and will fill you in every chance we get. Stay tuned.
Regardless of what the 9th decides to do with regard to a stay, Judge Benitez ruling boldly slams the Attorney General for his supposed “historical” justification on the restriction of firearms. The 48 laws cited by Bonta included prohibitions on firearm and ammunition possession on people of color, slaves, and Native Americans. Judge Benitez wrote that such laws “constitute a long, embarrassing, disgusting, insidious, reprehensible list of examples of government tyranny towards our own people.”
If citing racist laws is the best the State of California has to offer in defending the historical notion of firearm restrictions, then they need to close up shop and go home.
In summarizing his decision, Judge Roger T. Benitez concluded:
“The ammunition background checks laws have no historical pedigree and operate in such a way that they violate the Second Amendment right of citizens to keep and bear arms. The anti-importation components violate the dormant Commerce Clause and to the extent applicable to individuals travelling int California … Accordingly, the Court permanently enjoins the State of California from enforcing the ammunition sales background check provisions found in the California Penal Code…
It has therefore been ordered that Defendant Attorney General Rob Bonta, and his officers … are enjoined from implementing or enforcing the ammunition sales background check provisions found in California Penal Code…”
To read the entire ruling, click HERE.
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