U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)- Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) announced that Southern District of California Federal District Court Judge Dana M. Sabraw denied in part California’s motion to dismiss in FPC’s challenge to the handgun “Roster” ban laws, Renna v. Bonta. The order can be viewed at FPCLegal.org.
After the case was filed in November of 2020, the State of California defendants moved to dismiss the case. Following briefing on the motion, the Court ruled that some parts of the case could proceed. The Court began by determining whether the Ninth Circuit’s ruling in Pena v. Lindley barred the claims made in the lawsuit, and found that “[t]o the extent Plaintiffs challenge those provisions [of the handgun roster] as unconstitutional here, their arguments are foreclosed by Pena and therefore rejected.” This result was expected, and those claims will be addressed on appeal.
The Court denied the State’s motion as to the new changes to the handgun “Roster” laws enacted last year, allowing those claims to proceed by finding that “Pena did not address the issue of the removal of handguns from the roster, and the enactment of AB 2847 postdates Pena.” The court also determined that the plaintiffs had standing to bring the lawsuit. Citing FPC’s federal lawsuit against California’s ban on so-called “assault weapons,” the Court determined that the “Plaintiffs have sufficiently alleged facts to establish standing and ripeness.”
In finding that the plaintiffs sufficiently allege that California’s Unsafe Handgun Act violates the Second Amendment, the Court noted that it “is not persuaded there is a ‘reasonable fit’ between the state’s asserted objective and the [AB 2847’s] three-for-one provision,” and that “Defendants offer no justification for why the statute requires the removal of three handguns for each new handgun added, instead of, for instance, a proportional one-to-one.”
“We are gratified that the Court has allowed the case to proceed to its ultimate resolution and we look forward to moving this important lawsuit forward very soon,” said Adam Kraut, FPC’s Senior Director of Legal Operations. “Through this case, we seek to overturn the Ninth Circuit’s wrongly decided 3-judge panel opinion in Pena by a court competent to do so, vindicate the rights of our clients and all Californians, and strike down the unconstitutional handgun Roster.”
Individuals that are interested in becoming a member of the FPC Grassroots Army can become a member for just $25 at JoinFPC.org.
Firearms Policy Coalition and its FPC Law team are the nation’s next-generation advocates leading the Second Amendment litigation and research space. Some FPC legal actions include:
- A brief supporting certiorari in NYSRPA v. Bruen, which was granted by the U.S. Supreme Court
- A challenge to Tennessee’s ban on handgun carry by adults under 21 (Basset v. Slatery)
- A challenge to Maryland’s ban on handgun carry (Call v. Jones)
- A challenge to New Jersey’s ban on handgun carry (Bennett v. Davis)
- A challenge to New York City’s ban on handgun carry (Greco v. New York City)
- A challenge to Pennsylvania’s ban on handgun carry by adults under 21 (Lara v. Evanchick)
- A challenge to the federal ban on the sale of handguns and handgun ammunition to adults under 21 years of age (Reese v. ATF)
- A challenge to Maryland’s ban on so-called “assault weapons” (Bianchi v. Frosh)
- Challenge to California’s ban on so-called “assault weapons” (Miller v. Calif. Att’y General)
- A challenge to California’s handgun “roster”, microstamping, and self-manufacturing ban laws (Renna v. Becerra)
- A challenge to Pennsylvania’s laws completely denying the right to carry to individuals who were previously granted relief from prior non-violent convictions and are not currently prohibited from possessing firearms (Suarez v. Evanchick)
For more on these cases and other legal action initiatives, visit FPCLegal.org and follow FPC on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube.
About Firearms Policy Coalition
Firearms Policy Coalition (firearmspolicy.org) is a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization. FPC’s mission is to protect and defend constitutional rights—especially the right to keep and bear arms—advance individual liberty, and restore freedom through litigation and legal action, legislative and regulatory action, education, outreach, grassroots activism, and other programs. FPC Law is the nation’s largest public interest legal team focused on Second Amendment and adjacent fundamental rights including freedom of speech and due process, conducting litigation, research, scholarly publications, and amicus briefing, among other efforts.
LEOs are going to fight the ending of the roster.
They make too much easy money from it.
The overwhelming majority of the rank and file (not the political weenies) “DO NOT” support such restrictions, because we, too, want guns we can not get. We are citizens, too, and deserve the right protected by 2A. We enjoy shooting sports (hunting, competition, etc.). We also support self defense. You can say we already have arms for that, but that does not mean that there are not better/newer arms which we would rather carry. We know up front the value of an armed law abiding citizen. We don’t make money from limiting arms to the roster. In fact, it, in… Read more »
Even if the roster is ruled unconstitutional it will change nothing as there is still that pesky microstamping law that has prevented any new semi-auto pistols being sold in California since 2007. The manufacturer cannot even change the color or it would require that it also incorporate microstamping. Governor “Ahnold” signed the Law.
I reside in the part of the state which was purchased from Russia. I am the descendant of a long line of conservative. My family arrived here prior to the 1849 gold rush. We are ranchers, business owners. Like my grandfather who handled mule teams to construct roads and irrigation canals which built this state. We have served our country since the Civil War. My grandfather served in the trenches of northern France in WW1, my father served in the Philippines during WW2, as well as serving during the Korean War and Vietnam. We are one of several counties which… Read more »
The Russian River is by the way an outstanding River for amateur gold prospecting and if they still allow it dredging!
One of the more fun ways to explore that area is to get a good minelab’s metal detector, or a White’s metal detector, even a tesoro will do! They make them specifically for going after gold rather than looking for rings and watches on the beach.
Cheers from the oil patch in Central Wyoming
Never forget that the Spaniards who conquered California, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico were white Europeans who spoke a European language called Spanish!
Cheers from the oil patch in Central Wyoming
I graduated high school out of Thermopolis so I know the area very well!