Judge Roger Benitez of the U.S. District Court in San Diego has again overruled California’s ban on large-capacity ammunition magazines that can hold more than 10 cartridges. In the 71-page decision, which I will post on Gun-Tests.com, Judge Benitez wrote, “This case is about a California state law that makes it a crime to keep and bear common firearm magazines typically possessed for lawful purposes. Based on the text, history and tradition of the 2nd Amendment, this law is clearly unconstitutional.” Also, Benitez wrote, “The history and tradition of the Second Amendment clearly supports state laws against the use or misuse of firearms with unlawful intent, but not the disarmament of the law-abiding citizen.”
Benitez stayed his ruling for 10 days while California Attorney Gen. Rob Bonta appeals the decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In sum, the September 22 decision would enjoin (stop) Bonta and all law-enforcement officers in California from enforcing the section of the state’s penal code that bans large-capacity magazines. California has banned the sale or purchase of large-capacity magazines for more than two decades. In 2016, voters approved Proposition 63, which banned the possession of such magazines as well.
Benitez had struck down the magazine ban in March 2019, but the 9th Circuit overturned him in November 2021. The Supreme Court vacated the appeals court ruling and ordered new proceedings consistent with the Bruen decision. The case is Duncan et al v. Bonta, U.S. District Court, Southern District of California, No. 17-01017.
Evidence compiled by the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) shows that FBI reports that claim armed citizens thwart only 4.6% of active-shooter incidents grossly undercount the reality. The number of citizen stops of active-shooter incidents should be nearly eight times that, or 35.7%.
The FBI reports that armed citizens only stopped 14 of the 302 active shooter incidents it identified for the period 2014-2022. An analysis by the CPRC identified a total of 440 active-shooter incidents during that period and found that an armed citizen stopped 157.
According to CPRC, two factors explain the discrepancy: misclassified shootings and overlooked incidents. The CPRC determined that the FBI reports had misclassified five shootings. As for the second factor — overlooked cases — the FBI missed 35 incidents identified by CPRC as likely to have been mass public shootings thwarted by armed civilians. There were another 103 active-shooting incidents that the agency totally missed. The full report with case-by-case cites is available at CrimeResearch.org.
The Biden administration wants to classify gun owners as “engaged in the business” if we individually sell any firearms, whether or not we make a profit. The proposed rule would require any individual selling firearms online or at gun shows to be licensed and run background checks before completing any transaction.
ATF estimates the proposed rule would classify up to 328,000 private citizens as “firearm dealers,” even though the folks only make occasional firearm sales, exchanges, or purchases, or who sell all or part of a personal firearm collection.
Congress did not change the requirement that to be a “dealer,” a person must devote time, attention and labor to dealing in firearms as a regular course of trade or business to predominantly earn a profit. — Todd Woodard
Thanks for the update on California and larger magazines. Im a retired officer and second amendment person.
The crooks still carry magazines which hold more and we need to do it also.