Attorneys General from 25 states jointly submitted an amicus brief opposing California’s restriction on magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition. Led by Montana’s Republican Attorney General, Austin Knudsen, the group advocated for maintaining a San Diego judge’s ruling that blocked the implementation of the ban. In their collective statement, they asserted that California’s law violated the constitutional right to possess common firearm magazines used for lawful purposes.
New York’s Democrat Attorney General, Letitia James, and 19 counterparts contended that the ban constituted a constitutionally acceptable limitation, emphasizing the enhanced lethality of large-capacity magazines and their potential contribution to mass-casualty incidents.
California’s prohibition on so-called high-capacity magazines, established in 2016, has been embroiled in legal battles. The case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which, after its June 2022 decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, remanded it to lower courts. District Judge Roger Benitez of San Diego declared the ban unconstitutional under the Second Amendment in September, referencing the Supreme Court’s requirement for restrictions to align with the nation’s historical firearm regulation tradition.
California’s Attorney General, Rob Bonta, appealed the decision, and in October, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, based in San Francisco, granted the state’s request to maintain portions of the ban. Nevertheless, Judge Benitez, in a subsequent ruling the same month, reiterated the unconstitutionality of the ban, emphasizing the absence of historical precedent and the infringement on Second Amendment rights.
Despite the ongoing legal battle, an appeals court has decided to uphold the state’s bans while Bonta pursues further appeals against the lower court’s ruling.
By: Montana Newsroom staff
