Once again federal courts have blasted holes in attempts to restrict the Second Amendment “right to keep and bear arms.”
On June 20, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in its own summary, “held that California’s ‘one-gun-a-month’ law… facially violates the Second Amendment.”
That’s “because the plain text … protects against meaningful constraints on the acquisition of firearms through purchase.”
“This is a huge victory,” Sam Paredes told us; he’s the executive director of Gun Owners of California, which filed an amicus brief for the plaintiff in the case, Nguyen v. Bonta; Rob Bonta is California’s attorney general. Paredes compared such restrictions to saying the First Amendment allows restricting journalists to one article a month, or limiting going to church to once a month.
The court panel specifically cited the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, which upheld the personal right to carry a concealed gun. The decision also noted how, after the Civil War, the Fourteenth Amendment and Reconstruction tried to stop the Southern states from restricting the Second Amendment rights of the newly freed black slaves. (Bruen did allow such reasonable restrictions as taking a gun safety class, or banning convicted felons from owning guns.)
Bonta contended in his argument defending the California law that “governments during the founding and Reconstruction simply did not have to confront the social problems created by the immediate commercial availability of firearms for large purchases.” And, back then “firearms were made by hand.” The court panel wasn’t buying that, writing California’s problems are “perhaps different in degree from past problems, but they are not different in kind.”
Unfortunately, some states, including California, have continued to flout Bruen’s clear language. Last September, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law 24 more gun-control laws. He boasted, “Our state is once again leading the way by strengthening our nation-leading gun laws.” He even has proposed a 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to eviscerate the Second Amendment.
Paredes pointed to Assembly Bill 1078, by Assemblymember Marc Berman, D-Menlo Park. In the bill’s language, it prohibits “the purchase of more than three firearms cumulatively within any 30-day period.” Paredes called that “a cynical attempt to get beyond the court panel’s decision, which maintained rights cannot be rationed.”
The bill’s language also would require an applicant for a concealed-carry permit to submit “at least three character references” – with the government determining the validity of the references. The bill passed the Assembly and now is in the Senate.
The three circuit court judges handing down the Nguyen opinion were John B. Owens, nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama, and Bridget S. Bade and Danielle J. Forrest, nominated by Republican President Donald Trump. This was an affirmation of the clear meaning of the Second Amendment.
Newsom, Bonta and the Legislature need to start obeying the courts – and the Constitution.