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CA Judge Blocks Hi-Cap Magazine Ban.

Judge blocks California's high-capacity magazine ban

By DON THOMPSON
Associated Press
June 29, 2017

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday blocked a California
law set to take effect Saturday that would have barred gun owners from
possessing high-capacity ammunition magazines.

The judge ruled that the ban approved by the Legislature last year takes
away gun owners' Second Amendment rights and amounts to the government
taking people's private property without compensation.

California law has prohibited buying or selling the magazines since 2000,
but until now allowed those who had them to keep them.

"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," San
Diego-based U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez wrote.

He issued a preliminary injunction blocking the law from taking effect
while he considers the underlying lawsuit filed by the National Rifle
Association-affiliated California Rifle & Pistol Association.

Meanwhile, a Sacramento-based judge on Thursday rejected a similar
challenge by several other gun owners' rights organizations, creating what
Ari Freilich, staff attorney at the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence,
called "dueling opinions" that may be sorted out on appeal.

"Unfortunately this law will be delayed but we are confident it will go
into effect, and soon," he said.

He called the San Diego lawsuit and ruling part of an effort by the
National Rifle Association "to delay and dismantle California's law brick
by brick."

Had the ban taken effect, owners would have been required to get rid of
their magazines by sending them out of state, altering them to hold no more
than 10 bullets, destroying them or turning them into law enforcement
agencies. Possession could have been punished by $100 fines or up to a year
in jail.

Owners can now keep the magazines until a final ruling by Benitez or if an
appeals court overturns his injunction, said Chuck Michel, attorney for the
NRA and the California Rifle & Pistol Association.

"This court recognized that the Second Amendment is not a second-class
right and that law-abiding gun owners have the right to own these magazines
to defend themselves and their families," Michel said.

State lawmakers approved the ban last year as part of a package of bills
adding to what already were some of the nation's strictest gun laws. Voters
agreed in November when they approved Proposition 63, a measure that
toughened the penalties by allowing violators to be fined or jailed.

Benitez said he was mindful of voters' approval and government's legitimate
interest in protecting the public but added that the "Constitution is a
shield from the tyranny of the majority."

Gun owner's constitutional rights "are not eliminated simply because they
possess 'unpopular' magazines holding more than 10 rounds," he wrote in a
66-page decision.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who is defending the state law,
did not comment or say what he will do next.

Supporters say that magazines often holding 30 or 100 bullets are typically
used in mass shootings and aren't needed by hunters or civilian owners.

"With Prop. 63 passing, it's clear where the majority of Californians stand
on this issue and clearly it escalates the lethality in any mass shooting
when high-capacity magazines are involved," said Amanda Wilcox, a
spokeswoman for the California chapters of the Brady Campaign to Prevent
Gun Violence whose daughter was fatally shot.

Forcing assailants to change magazines more frequently gives victims time
to flee or subdue the shooter, Becerra argued in court filings.

He listed as examples the shooting in Orlando, Florida, that killed 49
people and injured 53; the terrorist assault that killed 14 and injured 22
in San Bernardino; the massacre of children and teachers at Sandy Hook
Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut; and the Arizona attack that
killed six and wounded 13 including former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Moreover, the government wouldn't own the magazines in the way it would
property seized for a new highway or public building, he argued, since the
magazines would be destroyed by law enforcement agencies.

Becerra said opponents' Second Amendment challenge has repeatedly been
rejected by other courts, allowing at least seven other states and 11 local
governments to already restrict the possession or sale of large-capacity
ammunition magazines.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/judge-blocks-californias-high-capacity-magazine-b