Gun Laws And 2a
9th Circuit Panel Upholds Injunction Against California Magazine Ban
Appeals Court Affirms 'Text, History, and Tradition' Standard in Key Second Amendment Ruling
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✍️By ZRIntel Editorial Team📍San Francisco, California
In a significant victory for Second Amendment advocates, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit yesterday upheld a preliminary injunction against California's ban on magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds. The ruling in Duncan v. Bonta reaffirms the standard set by the Supreme Court's 2022 decision in NYSRPA v. Bruen, focusing strictly on whether the law is consistent with the nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation. The panel's majority opinion stated that the state of California failed to present sufficient historical evidence of analogous laws from the founding era that would justify such a sweeping prohibition on what the court deemed to be standard, commonly owned firearm components. The decision emphasized that millions of law-abiding Americans possess these magazines for lawful purposes, including self-defense, and that the state's attempt to label them as 'unusually dangerous' did not align with historical precedent. Pro-2A groups, including the California Rifle & Pistol Association (CRPA), hailed the decision as a crucial defense of constitutional rights against arbitrary state restrictions. The ruling is expected to have a ripple effect on similar magazine capacity laws within the Ninth Circuit, including those in Washington and Oregon. The California Attorney General's office has announced its intention to appeal the decision, likely seeking an en banc review by a larger panel of 11 Ninth Circuit judges. For now, the injunction remains in place, preventing the state from enforcing the ban.