Written by Miguel Palacios
The ability of California’s gun-owning citizens to own high-capacity magazines may be in jeopardy soon. A US Appeals Court has decided to reconsider a previous decision that nullified the ban. The case was previously decided by a divided three-judge panel, it will now be heard by an 11-judge panel.
California attorney general Xavier Becerra claims that the ban preserves public safety while continuing to allow gun owners to effectively defend themselves.
Lawyers representing California’s gun-owning population state that the ban is not only draconian, but it also ignores the fact that responsible citizens have used and maintained high-capacity magazines for years without any issues regarding public safety.
Circuit Judge Kenneth Lee, an appointee of President Trump, opined that the 2017 ban was “well-intentioned”, referring to its implementation following a string of highly publicized mass shootings, but that it amounted to an infringement of citizens’ constitutional rights to armed self-defense.
The reality of such a ban is that while it will prevent California retailers from selling high-capacity magazines, it does not prevent one from acquiring them from other sources. That is the issue with gun laws, they do not prevent criminals from obtaining anything because criminals will simply ignore the law. This just puts law-abiding citizens at increased risk.
Nevertheless, a lower court judge has stayed the lifting of the ban pending the state’s appeal.
Photo by Thomas Cooper/Getty Images
