After years of pinballing around the federal courts, California’s two-decade-old ban on magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds was once again torpedoed last week. 

Writing from his bench in San Diego, U.S. District Court Judge Roger Benitez issued a scathing 71-page decision in the long-running case of Duncan v. Bonta. 

Judge Benitez observed: 

One government solution to a few mad men with guns is a law that makes into criminals responsible, law-abiding people wanting larger magazines simply to protect themselves. The history and tradition of the Second Amendment clearly supports state laws against the use or misuse of firearms with unlawful intent, but not the disarmament of the law-abiding citizen. That kind of a solution is an infringement on the Constitutional right of citizens to keep and bear arms. The adoption of the Second Amendment was a freedom calculus decided long ago by our first citizens who cherished individual freedom with its risks more than the subservient security of a British ruler or the smothering safety of domestic lawmakers. The freedom they fought for was worth fighting for then, and that freedom is entitled to be preserved still. 

In short, Benitez was given orders by the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit the case that he first issued a ruling on in 2019 that briefly saw California's "Freedom Week" during which the mag ban was on hold. The law was placed back into effect pending an appeal in which a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit sided with Benitez's original ruling in 2020, only to be overturned by a 7-4 en banc ruling by the same circuit in 2021. That set up a final appeal to the nation's high court which, in June 2022, vacated the en banc panel's ruling and remanded the case back to Benitez, taking the new Bruen ruling into account. 

While last week's ruling finds the law unconstitutional, Benitez issued a stay in blocking its enforcement pending appeals so there will be no "Freedom Week II." 

California state officials quickly united behind the law in opposing the latest ruling, with Attorney General Rob Bonta vowing to appeal the decision while Gov. Gavin Newsom took the low road by issuing personal insults to the jurist, a 2004 appointment to the federal bench by President George W. Bush.

Newsom, in a post on social media describing Benitez as "an extremist, right-wing zealot with no regard to human life," quickly pivoted to stump for his proposed 28th Amendment, which would authorize California-style gun control at a national level. 

"Our gun safety laws will continue to be thrown out by NRA-owned federal judges until we pass a Constitutional Amendment to protect our kids and end the gun violence epidemic in America," said Newsom.

For a deeper dive into the latest Duncan v. Bonta decision, attorney and CRPA President Chuck Michel discusses the case in detail below.