DOJ Sues to Stop California’s GLOCK Ban and End Its State-Approved Handgun Roster

The latest shot(s) across the bow of blue states’ ever-expanding web of gun control laws designed to make exercising Second Amendment Rights more difficult and expensive is a pair of lawsuits filed today by Harmeet Dhillon’s Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice.

Her latest targets are Virginia’s “assault firearms” ban as well as California’s GLOCK ban along with its roster of state-approved handguns that drastically limits Californians’ options when buying a pistol.

The Virginia lawsuit contains this gem . . .

SB749 bans the purchase and sale of “assault firearms.” The law thus uses politically charged rhetoric to describe the arms to which it applies. The term “assault firearm” is not a technical term used in the firearms industry. Rather, the term “assault weapon” (and derivatives of that term) is a rhetorically charged political term developed by anti-gun publicists. … (quoting Bruce H. Kobayashi & Joseph E. Olsen, In Re 101 California Street: A Legal and Economic Analysis of Strict Liability for the Manufacture and Sale of “Assault Weapons,” 8 Stan. L. & Pol’y Rev., Winter 1997 41, 43) “Prior to 1989, the term assault weapon did not exist in the lexicon of firearms. It is a political term, developed by anti-gun publicists to expand the category of assault rifles so as to allow an attack on as many additional firearms as possible on the basis of undefined evil appearance.”)  In the real world (as opposed to the fevered imaginations of some politicians), the rifles that the statute calls “assault firearms” include ordinary semiautomatic rifles lawfully possessed and used by millions of law-abiding Americans. 

The intent here is the get a federal injunction in place to block enforcement of the law (two state preliminary injunctions have already been issued) until the case can be decided. And given yesterday’s news that the Supreme Court will be deciding on the constitutionality of “assault weapons” bans, the odds of that seem pretty good.

As for the California suit, Dhillon didn’t seem impressed by California AG Rob Bonta’s response to her notice of a pending lawsuit last month.

And here’s the DOJ’s press release announcing the suit sent out this morning . . .

The Justice Department filed a lawsuit today against California to halt the state’s newly enacted Glock Ban. The lawsuit also seeks to prevent enforcement of the state’s “Handgun Roster” — a list limiting legal firearms that individuals may purchase. The United States challenges both as unlawful under the Second Amendment.

“The Second Amendment is a sacred right belonging to all Americans, even those in California. California cannot ban the most popular type of handgun in America,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “We will work to stop this blatant trampling of our rights by the California government to protect the rights of lawful gun owners.”

“The Civil Rights Division will defend law-abiding citizens from states that seek to disarm them illegally,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This lawsuit is yet another example of this Justice Department enforcing the Second Amendment by protecting citizens against unconstitutional state regulation of firearms.”

California’s new law would ban the retail purchase of common handguns manufactured by Glock and guns with similar firing mechanisms. The state’s existing “Handgun Roster” further limits the types of handguns citizens can lawfully purchase in California. The United States Supreme Court recently reaffirmed that the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect the right to carry handguns outside the home for self-defense in Wolford v. Lopez. The Court reiterated that states cannot prevent citizens from using commonly used firearms for self-defense.

The Civil Rights Division’s Second Amendment Section enforces the Second Amendment. If you believe your right to keep and bear arms is being infringed, please submit a complaint through www.justice.gov/crt/second-amendment-section.