By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a federal lawsuit against the State of California in an effort to stop the state’s enforcement of its recently adopted ban on Glock pistols.
The DOJ filed its 16-page complaint Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Named as defendants are the State of California and Attorney General Rob Bonta, in his official capacity.
In the complaint, DOJ asserts California’s “Unsafe Handgun Act” (UHA) provisions “unquestionably infringe on the right to keep and bear arms because the UHA prevents California citizens from acquiring state-of-the-art handguns for self-defense. Therefore, the Constitution presumptively protects that conduct, and the challenged provisions of the UHA are presumptively unconstitutional.”
According to a DOJ news release, “California’s new law would ban the retail purchase of common handguns manufactured by Glock and guns with similar firing mechanisms. The state’s existing “Handgun Roster” further limits the types of handguns citizens can lawfully purchase in California. The United States Supreme Court recently reaffirmed that the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect the right to carry handguns outside the home for self-defense in Wolford v. Lopez.”
“The Second Amendment is a sacred right belonging to all Americans, even those in California. California cannot ban the most popular type of handgun in America,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “We will work to stop this blatant trampling of our rights by the California government to protect the rights of lawful gun owners.”
The lawsuit had been hinted at, and its filing further reinforces the notion that the Justice Department under the Trump administration is taking an aggressive stance on Second Amendment enforcement, unlike any previous administration.
“The Civil Rights Division will defend law-abiding citizens from states that seek to disarm them illegally,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon, head of the department’s Civil Rights Division. “This lawsuit is yet another example of this Justice Department enforcing the Second Amendment by protecting citizens against unconstitutional state regulation of firearms.”
