Judge Blocks California’s ban on standard capacity magazines

The California Rifle & Pistol Association scored a victory over magazine ownership Thursday against the anti-gun legislators in the liberal state.

A federal district judge ruled that the California legislature’s ban on the ownership of firearm magazines able to hold more than 10 rounds was unconstitutional because it deprives citizens of their Second Amendment rights and deprives them of property without proper compensation.

California law has banned the sale or purchase of such magazines since 2000, but those who were already in possession of them were allowed to keep them. A new law enacted by California’s state legislature made simple possession a crim.

Without the U.S. District Court Judge Roger Benitez’s interdiction, the ban would require owners of such magazines, before July 1st, 2017, to do one of the following:

(1) Remove the large-capacity magazine from the state.
(2) Sell the large-capacity magazine to a licensed firearms dealer.
(3) Destroy the large-capacity magazine.
(4) Surrender the large-capacity magazine to a law enforcement agency for destruction.

The judge issued a preliminary injunction preventing the law from taking effect while he considers the merits of a lawsuit filed by the California Rifle & Pistol Association.

“If this injunction does not issue, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of otherwise law-abiding citizens will have an untenable choice: become an outlaw or dispossess one’s self of lawfully acquired property,” Judge Benitez wrote in his decision.

Benitez is a San Diego-based district judge and an almost guaranteed appeal to the liberal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will follow. The 9th Circuit previously ruled that individuals do not have the right to own firearms – a decision overturned by the Supreme Court.