The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday in favor of California's Attorney General Rob Bonta, upholding the state's ban on large-capacity magazines and reversing a lower court's decision that had deemed the law unconstitutional, Courthouse News reports. In the case of Virginia Duncan et al. v. Rob Bonta, the en banc court determined that California's law banning possession of large-capacity magazines complies with the Second Amendment and remanded the case with instructions to enter judgment for the state's Attorney General, Rob Bonta. It determined that "the text of the Second Amendment does not encompass the right to possess large-capacity magazines because they are neither 'arms' nor protected accessories." Also, the court reasoned that even if the Second Amendment did cover such accessories, "California's ban falls within the Nation's tradition of protecting innocent persons by prohibiting especially dangerous uses of weapons and by regulating components necessary to the firing of a firearm."
Though it was not unanimous - three judges dissented - the ruling reverses a controversial 2023 decision by U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez, who had struck down the ban in a strongly worded 71-page order. Benitez, a George W. Bush appointee, characterized the law as an "extreme ban" that curtailed Californians' Second Amendment rights. "In so doing, the state denies a citizen the federal constitutional right to use common weapons of their own choosing for self-defense," Benitez wrote in his order. "There have been, and there will be, times where many more than 10 rounds are needed to stop attackers, yet under this statute, the state says 'too bad.'" The district court ruling was immediately appealed by Bonta, who defended the state's interest in regulating weapons accessories that can contribute to mass casualties. “This commonsense restriction on how many rounds a gunman can fire before they must pause to reload has been identified as a critical intervention to limit a lone shooter’s capacity to turn shootings into mass casualty attacks. Let me be clear, this law saves lives," Bonta said via a press release.
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