Newsom Calls Ninth Circuit Decision on Ammunition Background Checks ‘Slap in the Face’

You’d think someone who claims he’s not anti-gun and has no ideological opposition to the Second Amendment would be thrilled to see the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals uphold a lower court decision declaring California’s background check scheme for ammunition purchases unconstitutional. And I’m guessing that most folks who truly aren’t opposed to our right to keep and bear arms are happy (or at least aren’t upset) by the decision handed down on Thursday. 

After all, more than 10 percent of all ammunition purchases are falsely denied in California, which has a huge impact on lawful gun owners. And since they can’t legally order ammunition shipped online and have it delivered to their home, or even travel out of state and bring ammo back home with them, there’s no way for them to avoid California’s restrictive and error-plagued scheme without running afoul of the law. Seeing that scheme struck down is reason to celebrate… at least if you’re not an anti-gun twit cosplaying as a Second Amendment supporter like California Gov. Gavin Newsom. 

Governor Gavin Newsom issued the following statement today on a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit striking down California’s ammunition background check law, which was passed by voters in 2016: 

Strong gun laws save lives – and today’s decision is a slap in the face to the progress California has made in recent years to keep its communities safer from gun violence. Californians voted to require background checks on ammunition and their voices should matter.

Most major polls show overwhelming bipartisan support for universal background checks and other gun safety measures, with support typically ranging from 85% to 90%. A 2023 Fox News poll found that 87% of American voters back criminal background checks for all gun buyers. In California, voters approved background checks for ammunition purchases in 2016 by a 63% to 36% margin.

Our enumerated rights aren’t contingent on public polling. They’re enshrined in the Constitution for a reason, and when it comes to the right to keep and bear arms, the Constitution explicitly says they shall not be infringed. 

California’s ammunition background check law infringes on that right in a number of ways. As I mentioned, false denials are far more common than legitimate denials. The California Department of Justice’s own data shows that between January and June of 2023 there were 58,057 denials because of mismatching records compared to just 141 denials because the ammunition purchaser was prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition. 

The ammo background check scheme also imposes additional fees and/or built-in delays for gun owners. And as I mentioned, residents can’t legally bybass these infringements by purchasing ammunition online or even traveling across state lines to buy ammo in Arizona, Nevada, or Oregon because that’s not allowed either. 

None of these requirements comport with the national tradition of gun ownership, much less the plain text of the Second Amendment. 

As for Newsom’s whining that these checks represent the will of the people, so what? If a majority of Californians voted to criminalize political speech or impose a religious test on public officials, would Newsom still argue that those laws should be upheld because they’re popular? The vote in favor of these restrictions on ammunition purchases could have been 99-to-1. It still wouldn’t make the law constitutional. 

It was just a couple of weeks ago that Newsom claimed on a podcast that he’s not anti-gun at all, just in favor of a few “common sense” restrictions on things like “weapons of war” and large capacity “magazine clips”. If that was really the case then he’d have no problem whatsoever with the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Rhode v. Bonta. The truth, though, is that Newsom has a big problem with the Second Amendment and gun owners in general, even if he’s now trying to rebrand himself as a 2A supporter. 

Editor’s Note: Second Amendment organizations and 2A advocates are doing everything they can to protect our right to keep and bear arms

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