Calif. ban on high-capacity magazines tossed

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday threw out California's ban on highcapacity ammunition magazines, saying the law violates the U.S. Constitution's protection of the right to bear firearms.

“Even well-intentioned laws must pass constitutional muster,” appellate Judge Kenneth Lee wrote for the panel's majority. California’s

ban on magazines holding more than 10 bullets “strikes at the core of the Second Amendment — the right to armed selfdefense.”

He noted that California passed the law “in the wake of heart-wrenching and highly publicized mass shootings,” but said that isn't enough to justify a ban whose scope “is so sweeping that half of all magazines in America are now unlawful to own in California.”

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra's office said it is reviewing the decision.

Gun owners cannot immediately rush to buy highcapacity magazines because a stay issued by the lower court judge remains in place.

But Becerra did not say if the state would seek a further delay to prevent an immediate buying spree if the lower court judge ends that restriction. Gun groups estimated that more than a million high-capacity ammunition magazines may have legally flooded into

California during a oneweek window before the judge stayed his ruling in 2017.

Becerra also did not say if he would ask a larger 11judge appellate panel to reconsider the ruling by the three judges, or if he would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

California Rifle & Pistol Association attorney Chuck Michel called Friday’s decision “a huge victory” for gun owners “and the right to choose to own a firearm to defend your family.”

RICH PEDRONCELLI/AP 2017 An appeals court has ruled on California’s high-capacity magazine ban. Above, a gun with two such magazines.