Ninth Circuit Decision is Win for Second Amendment

Affirming the district court’s grant of a permanent injunction, the panel held that California’s ammunition background check regime, which requires firearm owners to complete background checks before each ammunition purchase, facially violates the Second Amendment. The panel applied the two-step framework set forth in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, 597 U.S. 1 (2022), in assessing plaintiffs’ Second Amendment challenge.

Applying the first step, the panel held that California’s ammunition background check regime implicates the plain text of the Second Amendment because the regime meaningfully constrains the right to keep operable arms.

Applying the second step, the panel held that the government failed to carry its burden of showing that California’s ammunition background check regime “is consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.” The historical analogues proffered by California were not within the relevant time frame, nor were they relevantly similar to California’s ammunition background check regime.