Written by Amanda Angulo
On Thursday, leaders of the state announced that an appeal has been filed against a San Diego federal judge’s ruling which overturned California’s ban on assault weapons, getting rid of over 30 years of a policy restraining the Second Amendment.
However, state leaders want to extend the 30-day period in which the ban stays, as issued by U.S. District Judge Roger T. Benitez. Their goal is to keep the ban throughout the appeals process in order to prevent the ban from being completely overturned. In response to the announcement, the Firearms Policy Coalitions stood their ground in a statement by saying they will “aggressively litigate this case on appeal and will take every action to defend the court’s legally and historically correct decision up to and at the U.S. Supreme Court.”
In Hon. Benitez’s 94 paged ruling, he wrote about the uses for the AR-15 and how it is a perfect combination of home defense and homeland defense, “the AR-15 is the kind of versatile gun that lies at the intersection of the kinds of firearms protected under District of Columbia v. Heller and United States v. Miller.” By referring to the U.S. v. Miller and D.C. v. Heller cases, Benitez had used precedent over whether the ban was unconstitutional. Ultimately, he proved that it was.
This is also not the first time that Benitez has blocked state laws relating to firearms and ammunition. Previously, the judge has ruled against a California ban on high-capacity magazines and the requirement of background checks for ammunition purchases, acting as an infringement on the Second Amendment right.
Yet, Democrats are attempting to get rid of our Second Amendment right by going through the courts in an attempt to appeal the decision made by Benitez. If they are successful, it could set the precedent that our Second Amendment rights are able to be stripped from us regardless of the type of gun.
