Assault Weapons Ban Struck Down in California, State to Appeal

California’s assault weapons ban was struck down by a federal judge on Thursday.

The state attorney general’s office filed a notice of appeal the same day Judge Roger T. Benitez, of the US District Court for the Southern District of California, granted plaintiff gun organizations a permanent injunction against enforcing regulatory provisions in the state’s Assault Weapons Control Act.

The ban will remain in effect for 10 days, and California Attorney General Robert Bonta said in a statement that he will seek a further stay of the injunction pending appeal in the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

“Weapons of war have no place on California’s streets,” Bonta said in a statement. “This has been state law in California for decades, and we will continue to fight for our authority to keep our citizens safe from firearms that cause mass casualties. In the meantime, assault weapons remain unlawful for purchase, transfer, or possession in California.”

The injunction targets sections in the California Penal Code which define an “assault weapon,” deem those weapons a public nuisance, regulate their acquisition, and restrict their use. It also blocks enforcement of related penalty provisions.

Benitez, who previously ruled against the decades-old ban, had the case remanded to him by the Ninth Circuit following the US Supreme Court’s decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which significantly changed how judges were instructed to adjudicate challenges to gun laws. In his opinion, Benitez said the Supreme Court “has very clearly ended modern interest balancing when it comes to the Second Amendment.”

“Among the American tradition of firearm ownership, there is nothing like California’s prohibition on rifles, shotguns, and handguns based on their looks or attributes,” Benitez said. “Here, the ‘assault weapon’ prohibition has no historical pedigree and it is extreme.”

Dillon Law Group APC, Seiler Epstein LLP, and Schaerr Jaffe LLP represent the gun owners.

The case is Miller v. Bonta, S.D. Cal., No. 19-cv-1537, 10/19/23.