The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on August 14, 2020 threw out a California law banning high-capacity ammunition magazines. The ruling was a split 2-1 decision, with Chief U.S District Court Judge Barbara Lynn, the third judge on the appellate panel, dissenting. The panel held that the ban violated the Second Amendment.
On Thursday February 25. 2021 that California large capacity-magazine ban was vacated. The San Diego-based case was then reviewed by an en banc panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and upheld in a 7-4 ruling on Nov. 30, 2021. Gun rights advocates who sued the state over the law in San Diego federal court said they plan to petition the Supreme Court in this case.
The 9th Circuit agreed to the advocates’ request to stay the possession part of the law to allow time for the writ of certiorari to be filed. If the petition is filed during that period, the stay will be extended until the high court makes a determination on whether it will consider the case.
The Supreme Court was hesitant to take on Second Amendment cases over the last decade until recently, when it heard a case concerning concealed-carry weapon permits out of New York. Oral Arguments for Case 20-843 NEW YORK STATE RIFLE & PISTOL ASSN., INC. V. BRUEN were heard Wednesday November 3, 2021 at 10:00AM. The ruling for NYSRPA V Bruen are due in the summer.
The California High Capacity Magazine Ban could be the 2nd gun rights case that goes to the Supreme Court. PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI was filed on February 28, 2022.
The questions presented are:
- Whether a blanket, retrospective, and confiscatory law prohibiting ordinary law-abiding citizens from possessing magazines in common use violates the Second Amendment.
- Whether a law dispossessing citizens without compensation of property that was lawfully acquired and long possessed without incident violates the Takings Clause.
- Whether the “two-step” approach that the Ninth Circuit and other lower courts apply to Second Amendment challenges is consistent with the Constitution and this Court’s precedent.
You can read the entire WRIT OF CERTIORARI here
UPDATE – June 23, 2022
Due to the ruling striking down New Yorks concealed-carry law, the California law banning high-capacity ammunition magazines was sent back to The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
