PHOENIX - Attorney General Mark Brnovich is co-leading a coalition of 23 states to uphold the Second Amendment at the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS). Attorney General Brnovich is urging SCOTUS to review a California law that limits magazine capacities and requires gun owners to surrender certain magazines to law enforcement.
“It’s outrageous that California lawmakers continually seek to undermine the Second Amendment and that they believe citizens should suddenly surrender commonly owned magazines to the government,” said Attorney General Brnovich. “We hope the Supreme Court will hear this case and reverse their brazen and misguided attempt to erode our Constitutional rights."
Attorney General Brnovich and the coalition argue California’s law criminalizes the mere possession of commonly-used arms even in the home for self-defense and therefore strikes at the core of the Second Amendment. At least forty-one states, including Arizona, permit the standard capacity magazines that California’s law bans. Ammunition magazines that hold multiple rounds are standard equipment for many commonly used handguns designed for self-defense.
The right to bear arms is vital to millions of Americans. Those in high-crime areas where law enforcement is stretched thin value the right to own weapons for self-defense. A panel of the Ninth Circuit recently explained in this case that “[o]ur country’s history has shown that communities of color have a particularly compelling interest in exercising their Second Amendment rights.” The same is true for women; guns can allow women to protect themselves more effectively against “abusers and assailants.”
The California District Court held that the law violated the Second Amendment, as did a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel. However, after California sought review from the full court, the Ninth Circuit reversed and upheld the law. The case is now being appealed to SCOTUS, where Attorney General Brnovich and the coalition are urging SCOTUS to grant certiorari in the case and reverse the Ninth Circuit’s misguided decision.
California’s outright ban on the standard magazines is inconsistent with the Second Amendment, and the Ninth Circuit erred by concluding otherwise.
Attorney General Brnovich is co-leading this brief with Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, Oklahoma Attorney General John M. O’Conner, and West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey. Joining them are the Attorneys General from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.
Copy of the coalition’s filing in Duncan v. Bonta here.