In a case we are closely watching:

A Ninth Circuit panel has overturned California’s burdensome and error-prone ammunition background check regime in a case we have been watching closely, Rhode v. Bonta. We congratulate our friends and frequent litigation partners at CRPA on this significant win.

Besides such background checks being unprecedented, the other big problem with California’s system is it does not even work well, worsening the constitutional concerns with it. By the state’s own admission, it wrongly denied over 10% of applicants who tried to use it, and the State did not bother to tell those people why they were denied, so many did not subsequently purchase ammunition. Data that Judge Benitez forced the State to disclose showed that of the 7,342 people wrongly rejected in January of 2023, only 62.9% managed to successfully purchase ammunition by July 1, 2023. Over a third, around 2700 people, were either denied their rights or forced to purchase ammunition through illegal means.

To make matters worse, this background check costs a dollar each time you do it, and it will now be increasing to $5. If you do not have a firearm registered at your current address, then you have to do a costlier $19 background check to purchase ammunition.

We are relieved the panel ruled correctly, but of course given this is the Ninth Circuit, en banc review is certainly possible. ... See MoreSee Less