According to a report in the Daily Caller, a federal judge has struck down California’s “assault weapons” ban, “writing that the law is “extreme” and has “no historical pedigree.” The law has been in force since 1989.
U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez wrote that the alleged “assault weapons” were virtually identical to other weapons that are legal in the state, other than in their appearance. That point is often lost on gun grabbers who are almost universally ignorant about many things, but specifically about the functionality of various firearms. They don’t understand that the type and color of a rifle stock has no relevance to it’s function.
Liberal gun grabbers, tend to be blissfully ignorant about firearms. They label any “AR-15-type rifle, which has a a black composite stock, an “assault weapon”. they also classify any functionally identical firearm with a wooden stock, as a “hunting rifle”. (For reference, AR does not stand for “assault rifle”, it stands for “ArmaLite Rifle”, ArmaLite was the original manufacturer and sold its design to Colt in 1959. Colt changed a few things and successfully marketed the rifle to the military as the M16.)
In his decision, Judge Benitez specifically noted, ”Modern semiautomatic rifles like the AR-15 platform rifle are widely owned by law-abiding citizens across the nation. Other than their looks (the State calls them ‘features’ or ‘accessories’) these prohibited rifles are virtually the same as other lawfully possessed rifles.”
Last month, Judge Benitez issued another California gun law to be unconstitutional. He issued an injunction against the law banning magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds. He found that law unconstitutional based on “the text, history, and tradition of the Second Amendment.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta has pledged to “work vigorously” on an appeal to overturn Judge Benitez’s decision. Hopefully, his appeal will go all the way to the Supreme Court, where it is likely to die.