By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
A group of gun rights organizations have swiftly moved to challenge California Assembly Bill 1127, signed into law by Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom, and the head of another gun group has asserted the liberal Golden State governor suffers from “handgun derangement syndrome.”
The new law bans Glock pistols in the state on the grounds they can be illegally fitted with a device known as a “Glock switch”—which is not made or endorsed by Glock—which allows the converted pistol to fire fully-automatic. Majority Democrats passed the measure, while Republicans opposed it.
A federal lawsuit was filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California by the Second Amendment Foundation, National Rifle Association, Firearms Policy Coalition, a licensed gun dealer and two private citizens, John Phillips and Danielle Jaymes, for whom the lawsuit is named. It is known as Jaymes v. Bonta.
They are represented by attorneys Bradley A. Benbrook and Stephen M. Duvernay at Benbrook Law Group in Sacramento, and David H. Thompson, Peter A. Patterson, Matthew R. Rittman and William V. Bergstrom at Cooper & Kirk in Washington, D.C.
Named as defendant is California Attorney General Rob Bonta in his official capacity.
“Prior to AB 1127, Gen 3 Glock, and similar handguns built on the Glock platform, were available for commercial sale because they were grandfathered onto California’s handgun roster,” said SAF Director of Legal Operations Bill Sack. “California is already subject to an injunction because the California Handgun Roster unconstitutionally bans handguns in common use for lawful purposes. Rather than heed the demands of the Second Amendment and their own courts, California lawmakers have responded by doubling down and expanding their handgun ban. We’ll see them in court.”
But it was Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms who leveled his sights on Newsom, whose long-standing support for restrictive gun control is well-known.
“The court has already held that several provisions of the UHA likely violate the Second Amendment,” Gottlieb observed in a statement supporting the lawsuit, “but instead of taking a hint from the court, Gov. Newsom has doubled down because of what can best be described as a case of handgun derangement syndrome by signing this new legislation. This new ban is flagrantly unconstitutional, and Newsom must know it.”
While CCRKBA is not a plaintiff in the new legal action, the group said it is watching closely because the court already held that several provisions of the UHA likely violate the Second Amendment, the result of a case known as Renna v. Bonta, filed originally in November 2020 by CCRKBA and several others.
CCRKBA and SAF are sister organizations.
