A judge who has blocked California's ban on large-capacity magazines is stopping sales for the time being

April 6, 2019, 00:38 GMT

By Associated press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A federal judge on Friday suspended the sale of high-caliber ammunition stores in California, giving state officials the opportunity to appeal its ruling last week that allowed them to be sold. for the first time in almost 20 years.

US District Judge Roger Benitez banned new sales until the US Circuit's 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decided to reinstate the state ban on magazines containing more than 10 bullets.

But the judge said those who bought the expanded magazines since his initial order of a week ago could keep them without fear of being prosecuted during the course of the appeal.

Hundreds of thousands of gun owners may have bought the magazines since Benitez lifted the state ban last week because it violated the second amendment's right to bear arms said Chuck Michel, a lawyer with the National Rifle Association and the California Rifle & Pistol Association. filed the lawsuit that led to the decision.

On the order of Benitez, no one in California is allowed to manufacture, import, buy or sell high capacity magazines from 5 pm. Friday.

California has banned such magazines since 2000, although people who had one before were allowed to keep them. Last week, Benitez rejected the law of 2000 as well as a 2016 law and a voting measure prohibiting possession even by those who legally owned it.

"All the people who bought the magazines over the last week are protected from lawsuits, but any subsequent purchase of these magazines is illegal at the moment," said Michel. "There were 20 years of accumulated demand for these self defense tools, and several hundred thousand people bought them last week, perhaps more than several hundred thousand."

Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who had requested the suspension, warned in court that it would be difficult for the state to withdraw recently purchased magazines even though the ban was reinstated.

Becerra has cited half a dozen shootings across the country since 2011, where assassins used high-capacity magazines.

"California is leading the country in common sense firearms laws, we should all be responsible for keeping our communities safe, not fighting long-standing laws that improve public safety" said Becerra in a statement. He added that he was convinced that the ban was constitutional.

Benitez acknowledged in his six-page suspension order that other judges, in California and elsewhere, have maintained the ban on high-capacity magazines.

"The Court understands that people of good will feel strong emotions on both sides of constitutional and social policy issues, and the Court understands that thoughtful and law-abiding citizens can and do hold firm positions of difference on the restrictions imposed on them. firearms magazines, "he wrote. .

"These concerns go beyond judicial deliberations and maintaining the status quo immediately during the judicial review process has an immeasurable societal benefit to society."