Judge rules California’s ban on assault weapons unconstitutional

SAN DIEGO — A federal judge on Friday struck down California’s ban on assault weapons as unconstitutional but left plenty of time for the state to file an appeal.

Judge Roger T. Benitez, who has favored pro-gun groups in past rulings, called the AR-15 rifle, used in many of the nation’s deadliest mass shootings, “a perfect combination of a home defense weapon and homeland defense equipment.”

“Yet, the State of California makes it a crime to have an AR15 type rifle,” Benitez wrote. “Therefore, this Court declares the California statutes to be unconstitutional.”

He praised the AR-15 as a rifle that should be formally protected by the law for its “militia readiness.”

The office of Attorney General Rob Bonta and multiple organizations advocating for gun owners and gun control did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday night.

The ruling came as Bonta recognized “Gun Violence Awareness Day.” “In California, we have strong gun laws developed with the public’s safety in mind,” he said in a statement.

The judge in the U.S. District Court’s Southern District of California cited multiple precedents to bolster his decision, although some experts and gun control advocates have long argued the authors of the Second Amendment could never have imagined a weapon originally designed for modern warfare being used for personal defense.

“Government is not free to impose its own new policy choices on American citizens where Constitutional rights are concerned,” the judge wrote.

Benitez stayed his own permanent injunction against the state’s prohibition for 30 days in order to give the attorney general time to appeal.

California first prohibited assault weapons in 1989 and expanded its definition to cover more firearms over the years.

The plaintiff, James Miller, along with Patrick Russ and Ryan Peterson, had argued that assault weapons are protected under the Second Amendment. They filed suit against the state in 2019.

Earlier this year, after a man allegedly killed 10 people at a Colorado grocery store with what witnesses described as an AR-15-style rifle, President Joe Biden called on Congress to pass a national assault weapon ban.