Judge Benitez blocks California’s ammunition background check, deeming it unconstitutional, citing violation of citizens’ Second Amendment right to bear arms.
United States District Court Judge Roger T. Benitez issued a decision Tuesday blocking enforcement of California’s background check requirement for ammunition purchases.
California law requires that would-be ammunition purchasers submit to a background check like the check one undergoes to purchase a firearm.
The law implementing the ammunition background checks came from Senate Bill 1235, which usurped a permit-to-purchase scenario passed by California voters in 2016. The court challenge was directed toward SB 1235 and its chief enforcer, California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
Benitez weighed the background check requirement in light of the Supreme Court’s Bruen (2023) decision and found it unconstitutional.
He wrote, “The ammunition background checks laws have no historical pedigree and operate in such a way that they violate the Second Amendment right of citizens to keep and bear arms.”
LEGAL ALERT: A federal judge has struck down California's ammunition background check requirement, saying it violates the Second Amendment: https://t.co/zyyLguslzO pic.twitter.com/BxTKsQDFQa
— Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy) January 31, 2024
h/t Lynyrd Skynyrd