Gun groups sue over law banning firearms sales to those under 21
SACRAMENTO — Gun owner groups have filed a federal lawsuit challenging California’s new law banning the sale of firearms to those under the age of 21, arguing that people who are 18 and over are adults with legal rights to possess pistols and rifles.
The lawsuit was filed Monday in San Diego by groups including the Calguns Foundation and Firearms Policy Coalition, and targets state laws including one that took effect in January that raised the legal age limit for buying long guns from 18 to 21. The suit also challenges a previous law barring sales of handguns to those under 21.
“Once individuals turn 18, they are adults in the eyes of the law,” said John W. Dillon, the Carlsbad attorney representing the gun groups. “Law-abiding adults are entitled to fully exercise all of their fundamental rights, including their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms for all lawful purposes, not just hunting or sport.”
State Sen. Anthony Portantino, a La Canada Flintridge Democrat, introduced the law on long guns last year after a 19-year-old gunman armed with a semiautomatic rifle killed 17 people at a Parkland, Fla., high school in February of that year.
“Like most Americans, I was horrified by recent events in Florida,” Portantino said when he introduced the bill. “As a father of a high school sophomore I can’t stop thinking about the unnecessary nightmare that this tragedy caused for the affected families. I feel it is imperative that California leads when Washington refuses to act.”
On Tuesday, Portantino lashed out at the lawsuit and said the state would oppose it in court. He noted the state already sets age limits on when people can buy cigarettes and alcohol and rent cars.
“I’m outraged that some people would work so hard to put our schoolchildren in jeopardy by fighting this very sensible and appropriate law,” Portantino said in a statement. “This lawsuit is a dumb and heartless effort that needlessly puts our children at risk.”
The lawsuit, also filed on behalf of individual gun owners, argues that adults who are not convicted felons or mentally ill should have access to the full scope of the Second Amendment.
“The Second Amendment is not a second-class right and adults over the age of 18 but under 21 are not second-class people,” said Brandon Combs, president of the Firearms Policy Coalition.
The lawsuit was filed on the same day another controversial gun law took effect, requiring background checks for everyone buying ammunition in California to make sure they are not convicted felons.
The state Department of Justice, which conducts the background checks, said the first day went smoothly, but an attorney for gun owners disagreed.
“On Day 1 of the new ammunition background check system the problems are worse than even we anticipated,” said Chuck Michel, whose office filed a lawsuit earlier this year challenging the law. “The process takes about a half hour per customer instead of the promised 2 minutes.”
He said some customers were turned away Monday because they lacked documentation proving their residency in addition to a California-issued driver’s license.
“We are collecting and will be presenting these facts, and the related constitutional issues, to the court and asking for an injunction to block this useless infringement of law-abiding gun owners’ rights,” Michel said.