A legal challenge to California’s ban on the possession of magazine that can hold more than ten rounds has prompted 18 Democrat AG’s from around the country to weigh in on the side of the state. The case of
Duncan v. Becerra is currently being heard in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and these Attorneys General, led by the AG for the District of Columbia, have submitted a friend of the court brief with the 9th Circuit
arguing California has the power to ban magazines without violating the 2nd Amendment rights of residents. Additionally, these AG’s also say that any court using “intermediate scrutiny” in reviewing gun control laws like California’s magazine ban
must defer to the state’s decision and cannot throw out the law on constitutional grounds.
The Attorneys General of D.C., Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Jersey, and Washington State claim that a federal judge erred when he blocked California’s law from going into effect.
Reasonable firearm regulations are fully compatible with the right to keep and bear arms protected by the Second Amendment. The erroneous interpretation advanced by the court below breaks sharply from these precedents. Its reasoning and non-deferential review of legislative judgments, if adopted by this Court, would tie States’ hands in responding to threats to public safety and impermissibly impinge on States’ policymaking authority.