Attorney General Rob Bonta on Thursday asked the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to overturn a ruling that slashed California’s longtime ban on assault weapons. And now the case may end up before the Supreme Court, where conservatives hold the majority.
Hanah Shearer is the Litigation Director of the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, the organization founded by former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords after she was shot and severely wounded. Shearer said she was not surprised that the ban was overturned, after the judge’s expressed support of the Second Amendment.
“I think the basis for appealing the decision is clear,” Shearer said. “It’s an outlier ruling. Every other Federal Court of Appeals that’s considered the constitutionality of an assault weapons ban has found that they are consistent with the Second Amendment. So this judge is a real outlier on that point.”
Shearer said that California’s ban on assault weapons, along with similar restrictions in other states, have helped decrease large-scale mass shootings (six or more deaths).
“It’s always hard to measure what would have happened in the absence of a law in the state of California,” she said. “This law was adopted in 1989, and in the decades since then, California’s gun death rate has fallen pretty consistently.”
Shearer said that over time the Supreme Court has said little about specific rules for state gun regulation, other than that states cannot ban handguns from being kept in a person’s home.
“It really is unclear on what Supreme Court law has to say about powerful weapons like the AR-15 and also what to do with the fact that it’s been illegal in California since 1989, but is really available in other states,” Shearer said. “With the current composition of the Supreme Court, they’re likely to take an expansive view of the Second Amendment and all these questions, but they just haven’t addressed it yet, so it remains to be seen.”
Shearer said that while the case proceeds, assault weapons will remain illegal in California.
“My prediction is that the Appeals Court will extend that stay so that the assault weapons ban remains in effect while the appeal is being considered,” Shearer said. “And the process of an appeal being briefed and decided can take many months.”
Other related cases that still have yet to be heard by the court may also create more delays in the appeal process, such as one case that questions the constitutionality of large-capacity magazines.
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