U.S.A. -(AmmoLand.com)- 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.”
Second Amendment Foundation
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.
This is the biggest positive legal decision for 2A in many years. There’s a special place in hell for communist activists like Xavier Becerra. Turning law-abiding citizens into felons for no good reason… It’s so obvious he is only interested in pandering to the extreme left for votes. He is a vehement anti-freedom fighter, and needs to be publicly reprimanded immediately.
Becerra is only in position because Kamala Harris vacated that office to become senator. Then brain dead voters elected him because of name recognition. He’s Gavin Newsom’s henchman and is anti-Constitution as they come. He also manipulates ballot proposal wording to confuse voters instead of clear understandable language. California legislation is full of people like him who are programed to deceive.
It’s unfortunate that this ruling will not benefit states like Colorado where the Communist Governor and legislature passed a law with a magazine limit of 15 rounds.