California Law Banning Guns To Those Under 21 Found UNCONSTITUTIONAL by Federal Appeals Court

California’s 2019 law banned the sale of semiautomatic weapons to adults under 21, but last week a U.S. Appeals court ruled that disallowing these individuals from purchasing a semi-automatic (which are not fully automatic) violates the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of appeals said in a ruling.

In a 2-1 ruling, a panel of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Wednesday the law violates the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms and a San Diego judge should have blocked what it called “an almost total ban on semiautomatic centerfire rifles” for young adults.

“America would not exist with the heroism of the young adults who fought and died in our revolutionary army. Today we reaffirm that our Constitution still protects the right that enabled their sacrifice; the right of young adults to keep and bear arms,” wrote Judge Ryan Nelson, who was named to the court by former President Donald J. Trump.

The case in question, Jones v. Bonta was brought before the watchful eye of the court by the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC), a second amendment backing association, which hailed the court’s decision in a statement.

“Today’s decision confirms that peaceable legal adults cannot be prohibited from acquiring firearms and exercising their rights enshrined in the Second Amendment,” FPC Vice President of Programs Adam Krout said. “We are pleased to see progress on this important front and optimistic that similar results will come from our many other challenges to age-based bans filed in courts across the United States.”

In 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 61 into regulation. The bill explicitly prohibited individuals under the age of 21 from having the option to buy semi-automatic centerfire rifles, with the exception for members of active-duty military or law enforcement.

At the time Newsom said in a statement, “Gun violence is an epidemic in this country, one that’s been enflamed by the inaction of politicians in Washington. While Washington has refused to act on eve the most basic gun safety reforms, California is once again leading the nation in passing meaningful gun safety reforms.”

The ruling, however, was not a total victory for gun rights advocates. They had sought to block the state from requiring a hunting license for purchases of rifles or shotguns by adults under 21 who are not in the military or law enforcement.

Handgun sales to those under 21 were already prohibited when the hunting license requirement was passed in 2018 after some of the nation’s worst mass shootings were committed by young adults using rifles.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta defended the law in court and said in a proclamation that his office is investigating the decision. Bonta added, “California will continue to take all necessary steps to prevent and reduce gun violence. We remain committed to defending California’s ‘common sense’ gun laws, which save lives and make our communities safer.”

The ruling to remove the ban is great when you consider that every year, 400,000 life threatening crimes are prevented with the utilization of firearms to protect owners. Sixty percent of convicted felons admitted that they would avoid committing crimes against people who they knew were armed.

A society of lawful citizens without firearms doesn’t mean there’ll be no gun related deaths or crimes.

And that is the furthest thing from being true. Criminals will stay criminals and do not follow any new laws that might be passed prohibiting law-abiding citizens from purchasing firearms.

When there is criminal intent, it doesn’t matter if there is a firearm available, there are many other items that can be used as weapons.
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