assault weapons
(AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

As expected, a Ninth Circuit three-judge panel has issued a stay of US District Court Judge Roger T. Benitez’s ruling that California’s “assault weapons” ban is unconstitutional. The state has appealed the decision and the panel’s stay ensures that the ban will remain in place until the Ninth Circuit appeals process plays out.

From the Los Angles Times . . .

Benitez overturned the California ban but gave the state 30 days to challenge the decision. The 9th Circuit, acting on a June 10 appeal filed by Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, put Benitez’s ruling on hold pending a full-blown decision.

“This leaves our assault weapons laws in effect while appellate proceedings continue,” Bonta said said in a tweet. “We won’t stop defending these life-saving laws.”

California’s “assault weapons” ban has been in place for 30 years. In that time, the kinds of rifles covered under the state’s ban are now — as the late Justice Scalia might have described them — in common use, with more than 20 million of them owned throughout the country according to the NSSF. The actual number is probably much higher.

Twenty-two states, led by Arizona, which is under the 9th Circuit’s jurisdiction, asked the appeals court to uphold the order against California’s law.

“Calling modern rifles ‘assault weapons’ is a misnomer— they are most often used by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes like personal protection or target and sport shooting,” the states argued. “There is nothing sinister about citizens keeping or bearing a modern rifle.”

Joining Arizona were the state of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Watch this space.

24 COMMENTS

      • No, do you want to hear “just because”? In nj there’s a bill working it’s way through the legislature to ban the 50 bmg. Ban a $5k to $15k 35lb huge rifle with $5 rounds that has never once been used in the commission of a crime “just because”…

        • So, basically, NJ will be joining CA’s longtime ban on the .50 BMG…

          From what I understand after reading past articles on the topic, CA’s ban was the reason the .416 Barrett was introduced.

        • .510 DTC was developed as a .50BMG near clone. .416 Barrett is an alternative to long range sniping rounds, like .408 Chey Tac.

        • The prc’s ban on .50 bmg is funny since the .510 dtc is legal… some would argue it’s a better round..

      • Everything related to racial discrimination has got the boot including concrete statues, flags, etc. However the biggest race based turd of all known as Gun Control remains alive and well and enjoying never ending standing in court.

        How can a racist based agenda so evil continue to enjoy standing in any court of law? Mainly because Gun Control has come to mean one thing to one dumbazz and another thing to another dumbazz.

        Until Gun Control and such things as a noose are seen as one in the same and dealt with accordingly placid, history illiterate, zipped lip gun owners will continue sitting in the back of the bus.

        • I believe that noose needs to be brought out and put to use. Oh and I drive the bus

    • “I’ll be dead of old age before this one’s adjudicated.”

      Their reply, “Deal”…

    • This is why I finally moved out of NY state. For a long time I believed that things would get better, but they never did – they always got worse. Cases like this never resolved anything, and I finally stopped believing. The left has invested too much to allow a silly court or a constitution that’s, like, old, man, to stop them.

      We are two countries now, whether we like it or not. I picked the country I wanted to live in (America) and moved there. The left is welcome to the misery they’ve created behind their 21st century iron curtain.

    • It seems it is Trump who has difficulty understanding that water is wet:

      “This is a tough hurricane,” he said in front of the White House, “one of the wettest we’ve ever seen from the standpoint of water.”
      Donald J Trump

      • I always wondered about your actual level of education or basic intelligence. Apparently you have neither. Trump was referring to the amount of rainfall associated with that particular hurricane. But then again, if you were intelligent, or had a decent education, you would have know that before you allowed your TDS to override your mouth.

        • People who live in a bottle are mostly unaware that some storms move reeeaaaaalllll slooooowwww and dump shitloads of water over an area while others move REALFAAASSSTT keeping rainfall accumulation to a minimum….

  1. I did NOT see that comming, honest, no joke, I am absolutely SHOCKED that the Ninth Circuit would rule against the 2nd Amendment… Are they totally stupid? Time for them to get smacked down “AGAIN” by the SCOTUS…

  2. Notice it’s mostly Southern states joining the lawsuit and helping keep America free as usual.

    • And many of those have done away with permission slips to buy/sell/transfer, possess, or carry nearly anything you want. Life is good in the South. 🙂

  3. The United States District Court for the Southern District of California.
    9 appointed by Republican Presidents, 8 by Democrat Presidents.
    This is the Court that was appealed to by California and the Court that Judge Benitez is on.

  4. and then the 9th Circus will be slapped down again

    we really need a law that any jurists that get reversed more than three times get the sack

  5. The communist state of California should be required to post bond of a minimum of $50k (it is an arbitrary amount, but should be painful to the state, thus the idiots that elected these fools) for each legally responsible gun owner that is impacted by this appeal. And the $50k granted when the appeal is overturned for every Cali gun owner (think class action).

    If anything, this would at the least stretch the budget of the state to the benefit of those affected by the dim politicians. This would allow gun owners to get a few more rounds and rifles. And backfill the coffers of the SAF, and the GOA.

    Why this wasn’t asked for is beyond me. Lawfare.

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