Opinion
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -The California ban on standard capacity magazines has been knocked down by a federal judge.
San Diego-based U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez declared that laws limiting magazine size violate the Second Amendment. Previously California residents were banned from buying magazines holding more than ten rounds since 2000.
The California law initially grandfathered the magazines that were in the state prior to 2000. In 2016 the California legislature voted to remove the provision that grandfathered these previously legal magazines.
The California Rifle & Pistol Association and the NRA sued over the requirement arguing that by removing the “grandfather” provision that the law violated the Second Amendment rights of the people of the state.
Judge Benitez, who was appointed by George W. Bush, reviewed all information and ruled that any ban of magazine size violated the Second Amendment. In 2017 he issued a stay against the removal of the grandfather clause.
“Individual liberty and freedom are not outmoded concepts,” Judge Benitez wrote in his decision.
The Cuban born judge also pointed to the dangers of home invasions in his ruling. He specifically named three home invasion cases in the ruling. Two of the cases involved woman who used guns to defend themselves against attackers. In both of the cases, the women would have run out of bullets if they had low compacity magazines.
“She had no place to carry an extra magazine and no way to reload because her left hand held the phone with which she was still trying to call 911,” the judge stated in his historic ruling.
California had argued that a magazine ban was necessary to prevent mass shootings like the terror attack in San Bernardino that killed 14 people. The judge rejected the argument pointing out that those type events are “exceedingly rare” and a gun is more likely to stop a robbery.
Chuck Michel, an attorney for the NRA and the California Rifle & Pistol Association, was happy with the ruling that went further than even they asked the courts to consider.
“We’re still digesting the opinion, but it appears to us that he struck down both the latest ban on possessing by those who are grandfathered in, but also said that everyone has a right to acquire one,” Michel said.
Some online retailers like Botach have already started processing orders for the once-banned magazines to the residents of the Golden State.
Another one of these retailers is Palmetto State Armory who announced the selling of standard capacity magazines on their social media.
“We are getting prepared to send a whole lot of freedom to our friends in California. #ShallNotBeInfringed #2A” tweeted out Palmetto State Armory with a picture of a longer message asking for customers to be patient as they work through the massive amounts of orders from California.
Most of the retailers I have spoken to are waiting to get legal advice before selling magazines that hold more than ten rounds to California residents. Speaking with XTech Tactical CEO Jeremy Deadman, he said he is cautiously optimistic about the court ruling opening up a new market for the company, but said that they need to wait for their legal counsel to finish reviewing the judges ruling before shipping to California.
XTech Tactical official statement reads:
“XTech Tactical has been on the front line of the fight for all inherent rights granted by the 2nd Amendment. This includes standard capacity magazines for Americans. At the time of this statement, Palmetto State Armory was the first only large seller of standard capacity magazines to promise shipments to California. We compliment their actions and will be watching the situation closely!
Now is the time for all 2A supporting Americans to support those groups that are fighting for our rights! This is a big step, but the battle assuredly is far from over! We have been assured clarity from our legal counsel by this coming Tuesday.”
California Judge Attorney General Xavier Becerra was in disbelief and stated that he was evaluating their options and said he was “committed to defending California’s common-sense gun laws.”
The liberal Attorney General ultimately said the Supreme Court might have to decide the case which hints that he is willing to take the suit up to the high court.
California Governor Gavin Newsom was also upset with judge’s the ruling over the magazine ban.
This District Court Judge’s failure to uphold a ban on high-capacity magazines is indefensible, dangerous for our communities and contradicts well-established case law,” the governor said in a released statement. “I strongly disagree with the court’s assessment that ‘the problem of mass shootings is very small.’ Our commitment to public safety and defending common sense gun safety laws remains steadfast.”
Both sides are still evaluating the judge’s decision but have not announced their next move.
About John Crump
John is an NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. He is the former CEO of Veritas Firearms, LLC and is the co-host of The Patriot-News Podcast which can be found at www.blogtalkradio.com/patriotnews. John has written extensively on the patriot movement including 3%’ers, Oath Keepers, and Militias. In addition to the Patriot movement, John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and is currently working on a book on leftist deplatforming methods and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, on Facebook at realjohncrump, or at www.crumpy.com.