SACRAMENTO, Calif. _ In a blow to one of Gov. Gavin Newsom's signature gun control laws, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned California's ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines on Friday.
"Even well-intentioned laws must pass constitutional muster," appellate Judge Kenneth Lee wrote on behalf of two of the three judges on the panel. "California's near-categorical ban of (large-capacity magazines) strikes at the core of the Second Amendment, the right to armed self-defense. Armed self-defense is a fundamental right rooted in tradition and the text of the Second Amendment."
Newsom was California's lieutenant governor in 2016 when he championed Proposition 63, a ballot initiative that prohibited Californians from owning ammunition magazines _ sometimes incorrectly described as "clips" _ holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition.
Voters approved the law a few months after then-Gov. Jerry Brown passed Senate Bill 1446 that also enacted a ban.
The proposition's language superseded Brown's law. Under the proposition, those with large-capacity magazines were required to take them out of state, sell them to a licensed firearms dealer or surrender them to law enforcement. They faced misdemeanors, fines and up to a year in jail if they kept them. California police departments reported that few gun owners actually turned them in, however. And conservative, rural sheriffs said they wouldn't enforce the ban, if otherwise law-abiding people weren't breaking other laws.
Newsom's office and Attorney General Xavier Becerra, whose office defended the ban in court, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
The case remains unsettled. Becerra could ask for the full appellate court to consider the case, or he could appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"We expect the full court will rehear the case and correct this erroneous, dangerous, and out-of-step decision," Eric Tirschwell of Everytown Law told The Associated Press. The association is the legal arm of Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control advocacy group.
The California Rifle and Pistol Association, a plaintiff in the case, called the ruling a "victory for the Second Amendment, both in California and across the country." The group said it hopes the U.S. Supreme Court, which has a conservative majority and a recent history of shooting down gun control laws, will take up the case.
In the decision, the panel held that firearm magazines are protected under the Second Amendment, that large-capacity magazines "are commonly owned and typically used for lawful purposes," and that they are not "unusual arms" that would fall outside the scope of the Second Amendment.
The panel ruled that "there was no persuasive historical evidence in the record" showing that large-capacity magazine possession falls outside the realm of Second Amendment protections and the restrictions were "so sweeping that half of all magazines in America are now unlawful to own in California."
