Judge overturns California’s 32-year ban on assault weapons, calling it ‘failed experiment’
- US District Judge Roger Benitez issued a permanent injunction against enforcement of the law but stayed it for 30 days.
- California Governor Gavin Newsom condemned the decision, calling it ‘a direct threat to public safety and the lives of innocent Californians’
A federal judge has overturned California’s three-decade-old ban on assault weapons, calling it a “failed experiment” that violates people’s constitutional right to bear arms.
US District Judge Roger Benitez of San Diego ruled on Friday that the state’s definition of illegal military-style rifles unlawfully deprives law-abiding Californians of weapons commonly allowed in most other states and by the US Supreme Court.
“Under no level of heightened scrutiny can the law survive,” Benitez said. He issued a permanent injunction against enforcement of the law but stayed it for 30 days to give state Attorney General Rob Bonta time to appeal.
California Governor Gavin Newsom condemned the decision, calling it “a direct threat to public safety and the lives of innocent Californians, period.”
In his 94-page ruling, the judge spoke favourably of modern weapons and said they were overwhelmingly used for legal reasons.