Going Back to Cali: Many Companies Resume Shipping Ammo to Golden State

In the wake of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision this week to uphold a lower court ruling that declared California’s background check scheme for ammunition purchases is unconstitutional, many ammo makers and online retailers have announced that they’re once again shipping to California customers… at least for now. 

Though the Ninth Circuit panel agreed that the permanent injunction originally imposed by U.S. District Judge Roger T. Benitez was the right thing to do,  California Attorney General Rob Bonta still has the option of seeking a stay on the decision and an en banc review by a broader panel of Ninth Circuit judges. If that’s denied, he could ask the Supreme Court to keep the law in effect during the appeals process. 

When Benitez ruled that California’s ban on “large capacity” magazines was unconstitutional a few years ago and declined to stay his decision, there was about a week-long period where those items were once again available for sale in the state before the Ninth Circuit granted Bonta’s request for a stay. During that time period, it’s estimate that about 1 million magazines were sold to Golden State residents. 

I don’t know if online orders of popular and exotic calibers are going to increase that dramatically, but there are plenty of companies who are offering up their wares to California customers. 

Good news California!!! pic.twitter.com/TcxMkNdfVh

— @MidwayUSA (@MidwayUSA) July 25, 2025

With recent legal developments in California, we will now begin shipping ammo to your door. pic.twitter.com/VXqbmvry7U

— Palmetto State Armory (@palmettoarmory) July 25, 2025

Piss, shit, and cry about it if you want but we’ll be working through the weekend to liberate California while we can. https://t.co/oEUPdoaOYn

— Feni𝕏 Ammunition (@FenixAmmunition) July 25, 2025

This may very well change in the coming days, though. In fact, the companies that have resumed shipping directly to California customers may be jumping the gun a bit, at least according to CRPA head Chuck Michel. 

Understandably, everyone wants to know whether or not the law is still in effect right now, or whether the injunction from the trial court goes back into effect immediately so they can buy ammo now. We are working to try and get a definitive answer to that, but it appears that…

— Chuck Michel (@CRPAPresident) July 24, 2025

Would California Attorney General Rob Bonta really prosecute companies and customers who are shipping and purchasing ammunition online at the moment? Michel said in a followup post that companies like Midway must feel lucky, because CalDOJ could go after them. 

DOJ’s position without a doubt is that the injunction issued by the trial court has not gone back into effect and is still blocked.

That’s why it’s critically important that the panel now remove the stay on Benitez’s injunction and allow for this lawful commerce to once again flow unimpeded by the state’s unconstitutional laws regarding ammunition purchases. 

Even if the panel does take that step, California residents also need to make sure there aren’t any local laws prohibiting them from buying ammunition online and having it shipped directly to their home. Michel says he anticipates a number of anti-gun jurisdictions will be inclined to pass a local ordinance. 

Michel notes that if the law requiring background checks on every ammunition purchase is unconstitutional statewide, it’s also unconstitutional at the local level. But the longtime 2A litigator also noted that, “Bloomberg Law lawyers will try to make some distinction in what the law does so it skirts whatever ruling strikes down the state law.”

If California isn’t allowed to conduct background checks on ammunition sales, I don’t know how localities could demand those checks take place. There would literally be no way to comply with an ordinance like that. I wonder, though, it we might not see cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco try to impose the say 10-day waiting period that exists for firearm purchases to ammunition purchases as well. Some anti-gun cities might even try to ration the amount of ammunition that can be purchased at one time or within a 30-day period; similar to California’s “1-in-30” law that has also been ruled unconstitutional by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. 

Some of the companies that have announced direct sales to California customers may decide it’s better to hold off until there’s clarity from the Ninth Circuit, so keep that in mind if you’re buying online. I hope this confusion is only temporary, and the panel will clarify things in favor of gun owners as quickly as possible, but for the moment the status of California’s ammunition regulations is still very much up in the air.  

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