Gavin Newsom signed California AB 2571 into law in June of 2022. The bill, among other things, prohibited the advertising of firearms to minors. The practical result of that was to keep even periodicals that wrote about kids sports shooting from being able to publish in toe 0nce-Golden State.
That, of course, is a ban on commercial speech and provoked a legal challenge by Junior Sports Magazines, the California Youth Shooting Sports Association and other plaintiffs by the Second Amendment Foundation, the CRPA and others. A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit agreed the law was unconstitutional. But when the state asked for an en banc hearing of the case, none of the Ninth Circuit judges requested a vote as to whether to hear the case.
That means the lower court’s decision stands and its injunction blocking enforcement will be reissued while the case is heard in full.
Here’s SAF’s announcement . . .
The Second Amendment Foundation is cheering the decision by a 9th Circuit Court panel to deny the State of California an en banc hearing in a case known as Junior Sports Magazines, Inc. v. Bonta, in which the state tried to prohibit firearm advertising which it claims, “reasonably appears to be attractive to minors.”
SAF is joined in the case by Junior Sports Magazines, the California Youth Shooting Sports Association, Redlands California Youth Clay Shooting Sports, California Rifle & Pistol Association, CRPA Foundation, Gun Owners of California and Raymond Brown, a private citizen.
“It seems like forever since the 9th Circuit has refused to hear a gun case en banc,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “Hopefully, this is a new trend.”
SAF attorney Donald Kilmer noted, “This means that our win before the three-judge panel will become the case law on this issue in the Ninth Circuit. It means the trial court’s denial of a preliminary injunction remains reversed and that court will be required to enter a preliminary injunction, preventing enforcement of this law while the case proceeds to final judgment.”
SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut said the court’s decision is a victory for the First Amendment as well as the Second.
“The state was determined to regulate the First Amendment as well as the Second,” Kraut stated, “and we prevented California from continuing to enact unconstitutional laws. We’re pleased the 9th Circuit has decided to leave the panel’s decision undisturbed.”
This is a ground-breaking First Amendment case, which defends the right of Junior Sports Magazine and other periodicals to publish Second Amendment-related material in California.
2 Responses
“It seems like forever since the 9th Circuit has refused to hear a gun case en banc,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “Hopefully, this is a new trend.”
I highly doubt it is a new trend, more than likely, they know ‘Bruen’ is gonna cause them all kinds of grief in the near future, so they decided to pass on a case with minimal impact, so they can claim they aren’t fighting the inevitability of ‘Bruen’.
Let’s see if they take a pass on an upcoming semi-auto or magazine capacity case…
AB 2571 is an attempt to control to control the youth by controlling what they see.
Violating the BOR is not a problem for the gang in california.