California gun law blocked 2 days before it was to take effect

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

A voter-approved gun-control law due to take effect Saturday, banning the possession of magazines that can hold more than 10 cartridges, was blocked Thursday by a federal judge, who said it would violate Californians’ right to defend themselves.

“The right to bear arms includes the right to keep and carry ammunition and magazines holding more than 10 rounds for those arms, for both self-defense and to be ready to serve in a militia,” U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez of San Diego said in issuing a statewide preliminary injunction against enforcement of the law.


“Disarming California’s law-abiding citizens is not a constitutionally permissible policy choice,” he said.

Hours earlier, another federal judge, William Shubb of Sacramento, had reached the opposite conclusion in a different lawsuit challenging the same law. But Benitez’s injunction will bar implementation of the measure unless a higher court overrules him.

California already bans the sale of magazines carrying more than 10 cartridges. Proposition 63, a November 2016 ballot measure, went further by banning possession. It also included a first-in-the-nation requirement that background checks be done for buyers of firearms ammunition. That provision was not at issue in Thursday’s ruling.

The struggle for gun rights in California.