AG Mark Brnovich Leads Coalition to Protect Second Amendment

PHOENIX – Attorney General Mark Brnovich is leading a coalition of 22 states urging the Ninth Circuit to protect Americans’ right to bear arms and uphold a lower court’s decision to strike down a California law that bans popular rifles.

“Our Second Amendment is constantly under attack from out-of-touch Californians and ignorant special interest groups,” said Attorney General Mark Brnovich. “America must never abandon her law-abiding citizens and their fundamental right to defend themselves.”

Earlier in June, a federal judge struck down California’s three-decade-old ban on modern-day rifles, ruling it violated the Second Amendment. California’s Attorney General is now appealing to the Ninth Circuit and requesting for an emergency stay. General Brnovich and the coalition are saying that this nonsense needs to stop now.

California’s law criminalizes the mere possession of commonly-used arms, even when kept in the home for self-defense. This strikes at the core of the Second Amendment. Arizona and 44 other states allow citizens to build, buy, and own modern rifles.

The coalition also argues that when law-abiding citizens exercise their right keep and bear modern rifles, it benefits public safety, counter-balances the threat of illegal gun violence, and helps make our homes and streets safer.

In California, murder by knife occurs seven times more often than murder by a rifle. In 2019, FBI statistics showed California had 252 people murdered with a knife, while 34 people were killed with some type of a rifle. A Californian is also three times more likely to be murdered by an attacker’s bare hands, fists, or feet, than by a rifle.

Joining General Brnovich are attorneys general from the states of Alabama, Alaska,Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Copy of filing here.