Ninth Circuit Blocks District Court Ruling Against Assault Weapons Ban

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena on Monday blocked a ruling that overturned the state’s ban on assault weapons.

According to CNN, a three-judge panel on the federal appeals court issued a stay of U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez’s order that overturned California’s 1989 assault weapons ban.

“This leaves our assault weapons laws in effect while appellate proceedings continue,” state Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a tweet. “We won’t stop defending these life-saving laws.”

Automatic weapons, including high-powered AR-15 rifles, have been used in mass shootings across the country. In fact, according to CNN, the military-grade rifle has been “the weapon of choice for the most violent mass killings in modern history.”

AR-15s were used in mass shootings in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado; the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh; the Route 91 Harvest musical festival in Las Vegas; a massacre at a church in Texas; the Pulse nightclub in Orlando; a high school in Parkland, Florida; and Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

Earlier this month, Benitez likened automatic weapons to a Swiss Army Knife.

“The popular AR-15 rifle is a perfect combination of home defense weapon and homeland defense equipment,” Benitez said in the ruling.

The Ninth Circuit court said both parties will file a status update within 14 days.

Benitez has previously ruled against other state firearm restrictions. Last year, he ruled California’s ban on high-capacity magazines was unconstitutional. He also struck down the state’s restriction on remote purchases of gun ammunition.

The Ninth Circuit in Pasadena on Tuesday was scheduled to hear a case en banc on the constitutionality of large capacity gun magazines (LCM).

Proposition 63 requires LCM owners, regardless of when they acquired the ammunition, to either destroy it, sell it to a licensed firearms dealer, surrender it to a law enforcement agency or modify it to hold less than 10 rounds of ammunition. Benitez previously ruled the ban unconstitutional. 

In May 2019, Pasadena police responded to calls of a man with a gun dressed in body armor on Glen Avenue, near Howard Street. When police arrived, Daniel Warren, 36, yelled at the officers and pointed a rifle at them.

Police opened fire and Warren retreated behind a house where he was later found dead from a gunshot fired by police. 

Investigators recovered a rifle with a large capacity drum style magazine and a handgun nearby.