Californian legislation that required citizens to pass a background check every time they purchased ammunition was thrown out by a federal judge.
“California’s New Ammunition Background Check Law Misfires”
US District Judge Roger Benitez ruled in favor of the California Rifle & Pistol Association, who challenged the legislation which came into effect in July of last year.
“The experiment has been tried. The casualties have been counted. California’s new ammunition background check law misfires and the Second Amendment rights of California citizens have been gravely injured,” Benitez argued in a 120-page opinion, slamming the background check law as not only “onerous and convoluted,” but also “constitutionally defective.”
Benitez rightfully pointed out that “criminals, tyrants, and terrorists don’t do background checks,” and that “the background check experiment defies common sense while unduly and severely burdening the Second Amendment rights of every responsible, gun-owning citizen desiring to lawfully buy ammunition.”
Intended to keep ammunition away from criminals, it was found that 16% of the time, it failed, stopping law-abiding citizens from making a purchase. He further ruled that the ban on ammunition being imported from outside of California violated multiple federal laws relating to interstate commerce.
“Californians Can Sleep A Little Easier”
Chuck Michel, the general counsel for the California Rifle & Pistol Association, said that “the law’s red tape and state database errors made it impossible for hundreds of thousands of law-abiding Californians to purchase ammunition for sport or self-defense. The court found that the flimsy reasons offered by the government to justify these constitutional infringements were inadequate.”
Michel said he assumed that the state of California would be likely to appeal the ruling. But until then, “Californians can sleep a little easier tonight knowing their Constitutional rights were restored and strengthened by this decision.”
This is another fantastic win for the Second Amendment. If more judges and legislators in California were like Mr Benitez, then the state probably wouldn’t be in such a mess!