A federal judge has overturned an unconstitutional ban on so-called “assault weapons” in California.
U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez of San Diego, a George W. Bush appointee, said the state’s three-decade-old prohibition against semi-automatic firearms violates the constitutional right to bear arms.
Benitez found that a handful of criminals cannot dictate the rules for millions of lawful American households.
He noted that most people who own firearms like AR-15 rifles are law-abiding citizens who carry the guns for self-defense.
“California’s answer to the criminal misuse of a few is to disarm its many good residents,” Benitez wrote in a 79-page ruling.
“That knee-jerk reaction is constitutionally untenable, just as it was 250 years ago.
“The Second Amendment stands as a shield from government imposition of that policy.”
Benitez ruled in favor of several gun advocacy groups who challenged the Assault Weapons Control Act and other state laws undermining the U.S. Constitution.
The anti-gun laws in California are some of the strictest in the nation.
John Dillon, an attorney for the plaintiffs who sued the state to overturn the law, praised the judge’s ruling.
Dillon said in a statement to The Associated Press that the ruling was “constitutionally sound and addresses the many inadequacies of the State’s arguments and so-called justifications for this unconstitutional ban.”
“We will continue to fight for our Plaintiffs’ Second Amendment rights through any appeal until the State is forced to start respecting these rights,” he added.