California laws banning the sale of firearms and ammunition at fairgrounds and other state property are constitutional, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Tuesday.
Judge Richard R. Clifton, writing for a unanimous three-judge panel, rejected claims by a group of firearms dealers and gun advocacy groups that the laws violated both their First Amendment right to free speech like your Second Amendment right to bear arms.
Clifton wrote that the laws do not violate the First Amendment because they “restrict only non-expressive conduct: contracts for the sale of firearms” and do not violate the Second Amendment because they do not “significantly restrict” anyone’s “ability to possess and bear.” . arms.”
Tiffany D. Cheuvront, an attorney for gun dealers and advocacy groups, including B&L Productions Inc., which organizes gun shows in California under the name Crossroads of the West, and the California Rifle & Pistol Assn. – called the decision “extremely disappointing.” She said they would appeal.
In a statement to the Times, Cheuvront said the justices “clearly failed to understand the connection between First Amendment and Second Amendment rights when the state seeks to limit fundamental rights and discriminate against certain groups of people on state property.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom, in a statement, called the ruling “common sense” and a victory for gun safety.
“If other states followed our policies, thousands of lives would be saved,” Newsom said, adding that California “will not stop defending our laws from radical right-wing demands.”
California Lawyer. Gen. Rob Bonta, whose office defends state laws in court, praised his staff for “another victory in the battle against gun violence in our state and country.”
“Guns should not be sold on state-owned property, simple as that,” Bonta said in a statement. “Sales of illegal firearms and ammunition, and sales of firearms and ammunition to prohibited persons, have occurred on state property and these laws will further help prevent that from going forward.”
Clifton, appointed by President George W. Bush, was joined in the decision by Circuit Judges Holly A. Thomas and Roopali H. Desai, both appointed by President Biden.
The decision resolves two cases in which lower courts had been divided on the issue. It lifts an injunction that one of those lower courts had issued last year blocking state enforcement of the laws.
The decision comes amid a broader legal debate over where states can ban firearms, following a 2022 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that laws that violate the Second Amendment are legitimate only if they are deeply rooted in American history and tradition.
Tuesday's decision upholds a series of state laws that banned gun sales at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, the Orange County Fairgrounds and all state properties. It sidesteps that historical analysis by finding that state bans have no substantial relationship to Second Amendment rights.
“The plain text of the Second Amendment directly protects one thing: the right to 'keep and bear' firearms,” Clifton wrote. “On its face, that language says nothing about trade, much less state-owned firearms sales.”
California laws do not prohibit gun sellers from interacting with buyers at gun shows on state land, nor do they prevent buyers from leaving state property to “immediately order the desired goods from the seller,” Clifton said.
“Simply eliminating an environment where people can purchase guns does not constitute a meaningful restriction on Second Amendment rights when they can purchase the same firearms on the street,” Clifton wrote.
A number of other challenges to California gun laws are making their way through the courts in the wake of the Supreme Court's 2022 decision, including challenges to the state's bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
