Federal Judge Overturns California’s Ban on ‘Assault-Style’ Weapons
5th June 2021
A federal judge overturned California’s 32-year-old ban on so-called assault-style weapons on Friday, describing it as a “failed experiment” and prompting scathing criticism from the state’s governor and attorney general.
California has prohibited the sale of the weapons since 1989. The ban was challenged in a 2019 lawsuit against California’s attorney general by plaintiffs including James Miller, a state resident, and the San Diego County Gun Owners, a political action committee.
“This case is about what should be a muscular constitutional right and whether a state can force a gun policy choice that impinges on that right with a 30-year-old failed experiment,” judge Roger Benitez of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California wrote in the court order filed late on Friday.
“Government is not free to impose its own new policy choices on American citizens where Constitutional rights are concerned,” the order added.