California’s Ammo Background Check Law Divides Appeals Court

A footnote in the Supreme Court’s landmark 2022 gun rights opinion was the wedge dividing an en banc Ninth Circuit Wednesday over the constitutionality of a California law which required background checks for ammunition purchases, before it was struck down last year by the appeals court.

An 11-judge panel for the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit focused on the Supreme Court’s footnote that objective conditions-based gun licensing regimes are generally constitutional. But licensing regimes can fall into unconstitutional territory when “put toward abusive ends” such as lengthy wait times or high fees, the footnote said in N.Y. ...