SACRAMENTO, Calif. _ The National Rifle Association said Monday it is sponsoring a series of five lawsuits against the package of gun control bills approved in California last year, including one challenging the newly expanded assault weapons ban in California.
Last year, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law a prohibition on the sale of semiautomatic rifles equipped with bullet-buttons that allow for the quick removal and replacement of ammunition magazines.
The first lawsuit was to be filed late Monday in federal court in Santa Ana by the NRA and its affiliated California Rifle and Pistol Association, and was to ask the courts to declare the expanded assault weapon law unconstitutional.
"It criminalizes possession of firearms which are commonly possessed for lawful purposes by law-abiding citizens for self-defense or shooting sports," said Chuck Michel, a Long Beach attorney for the NRA.
The legislation, and other bills including a ban on large-capacity ammunition magazines, were approved by Brown and the Legislature in response to a 2015 terrorist shooting in San Bernardino in which weapons including AR-15 rifles were used to kill 14 people attending a holiday party at the Inland Regional Center.
But opponents of the new law argue it "will do nothing to stop terrorists or violent criminals, and infringes on the right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment," the groups said in a statement Monday.
Michel said one of the upcoming lawsuits will seek to invalidate a ban on the possession of ammunition magazines capable of holding more than 10 bullets.
The groups waited to file their lawsuits until Republican President Donald Trump began appointing judges to the federal bench, including Justice Neil Gorsuch, who was confirmed last week for the U.S. Supreme Court.
