Federal Judge Overturns California’s Ban On “Assault Weapons” – IOTW Report

Federal Judge Overturns California’s Ban On “Assault Weapons”

Gov. Newsom is crying and throwing an ‘assault hissy’.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP/CBS13) — A federal judge Friday overturned California’s three-decade-old ban on assault weapons, ruling that it violates the constitutional right to bear arms.

U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez of San Diego ruled that the state’s definition of illegal military-style rifles unlawfully deprives law-abiding Californians of weapons commonly allowed in most other states and by the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Under no level of heightened scrutiny can the law survive,” Benitez said. He issued a permanent injunction against enforcement of the law but stayed it for 30 days to give state Attorney General Rob Bonta time to appeal.

Gov. Gavin Newsom condemned the decision, calling it “a direct threat to public safety and the lives of innocent Californians, period.”

The governor said he won’t be backing down on this matter and that there will be continued efforts to put stricter gun laws in place.

“As the son of a judge, I grew up with deep respect for the judicial process and the importance of a judge’s ability to make impartial fact-based rulings, but the fact that this judge compared the AR-15 – a weapon of war that’s used on the battlefield – to a Swiss Army Knife completely undermines the credibility of this decision and is a slap in the face to the families who’ve lost loved ones to this weapon,” Newsom said.

In his 94-page ruling, the judge spoke favorably of modern weapons, said they were overwhelmingly used for legal reasons.

“Like the Swiss Army knife, the popular AR-15 rifle is a perfect combination of home defense weapon and homeland defense equipment. Good for both home and battle,” the judge said in his ruling’s introduction. more

h/t Brad.

23 Comments on Federal Judge Overturns California’s Ban On “Assault Weapons”

  1. “A federal judge Friday overturned California’s three-decade-old ban on assault weapons,”. How can there be a three decades old ban when I know of California residents that have purchased an AR-15 in the last few years. I must be missing something.

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  2. @joe6pak – not all AR-15s are banned, basically just the ‘scary-looking’ ones, as defined by reams and reams of detail, bill on top of bill.

    “Assault weapons as defined by the law are more dangerous than other firearms and are disproportionately used in crimes, mass shootings and against law enforcement, with more resulting casualties, the state attorney general’s office argued</strike lied, and barring them “furthers the state’s important public safety interests.””

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  3. The lawsuit said California is “one of only a small handful states to ban many of the most popular semiautomatic firearms in the nation because they possess one or more common characteristics, such as pistol grips and threaded barrels,” frequently but not exclusively along with detachable ammunition magazines.

  4. California criminals expressed outrage at the now real possibility of their intended targets being able to adequately defend themselves. According to one man, D’Quanzi Boomshakalaka Jefferson, “It be racist, yo!… A nigga can’t even strip the shelves of a 7-Eleven without having to worry about some Ko-Rean shop owner puttin’ a bullit in his azz. An’ how a nigga gonna do a home invasion & shit on little ol’ white ladies if dey gotz an AR-15 & shit!… T’ain’t fair, yo.”

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  5. Seems to me I recall there having also been some registration of the scary ones, after which they were then made illegal to possess and confiscated or forced to turn in. What recourse do the people have that either turned them in or had them taken if they now reverse this crap? Keep changing how the law reads to include any and all…

    Brad would have working knowledge of what you can possess and what chance for them to finally get their rights back. It ain’t just the guns, but ammo and components that they also make illegal or near impossible to get.

    As if things weren’t scarce enough on the ammo/components front.

    They keep trying and we have to keep fighting back here in Illinois as they would love to mirror Commiefornia.

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  6. I have to say this. There is no such thing as an “assault weapon”. Never has been, never will be. The term is used by media to instill fear in the lemmings. Now, for all of the liberals, I will explain this. If a person walks into a room a clocks someone over the head with said weapon, that would be “assault WITH a weapon”. Same scenario, but the person has a loaded weapon & shoots someone, that is “assault WITH a deadly weapon”, perhaps with intent to kill. Again, it is NOT an “assault weapon” nor an “assault rifle”. Sorry for the rant, but this really is one of my biggest pet peeves.

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  7. Unless California law has changed; It used to be that if you assaulted someone with an item that weighed more than 4 oz. It was considered a deadly weapon.
    Therefore, anything 4 oz. or more could be classified as an assault weapon.

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  8. “ The lawsuit filed by the San Diego County Gun Owners Political Action Committee, California Gun Rights Foundation, Second Amendment Foundation and Firearms Policy Coalition is among several by gun advocacy groups challenging California’s firearms laws, which are among the strictest in the nation.”

    Notice the NRA-ILA was sitting on the sidelines picking boogers and eating them as this was going through the courts.

    Support the NRA’s competition and education efforts with your donations. They are a Godsend and a blessing. The ILA is a scandal and a disgrace. GOA and Second Amendment Foundation are where you want to send your donations for rights issues

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  9. Yea well refuse/resist is on the right track here. Cali Libs, who no nothing about guns, are required to define an “assault weapon”. Then we manufactures just find a work around. That really pisses them off. Shortly after the ban became reality we came up with the dreaded “Bullet Button”. A 1/4 diameter magnet quickly nullified
    that. They just recently outlawed the bullet button. But again they had to define what was illegal. We ended up with a weapon far more lethal than a gun with a bullet button. I hope this isn’t litigated into absurdity. But reality is no one’s paying attention to there bull shit anyway. This is a huge victory for GOA and CalFFL. And the NRA can kiss the left side of my right cheek. This judge was awesome in his summary. A patriot.

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