VICTORY! CRPA Defends First AND Second Amendment!
In a ruling issued earlier today, the Ninth Circuit upheld CRPA’s challenge in the case of Junior Sports Magazines v. Bonta to the overly restrictive provisions of AB 2571.
“Today’s ruling strongly affirms that the fundamental rights afforded by both the First and Second Amendments are just that: FUNDAMENTAL,” stated CRPA President & General Counsel Chuck Michel. “AB 2571 was a blatant attempt to destroy gun culture and it’s gratifying to see it roundly rejected by the court today.”
CRPA challenged AB 2571 the second it was passed, eventually winning an injunction on its enforcement while the case was heard. The law was part of a package of gun control bills pushed heavily by Governor Gavin Newsom immediately following the announcement of the Bruen decision.
The State tried to play games with our lawfully issued injunction from the Ninth Circuit. The Court saw through this and issued this confirmation of our previous injunction win against the entirety of the law stating:
“We earlier held that Section 22949.80 of the California Business and Professions Code—a statutory scheme that bars firearm advertising that “reasonably appears to be attractive” to minors—violates the First Amendment. On remand, the district court declined to preliminarily enjoin subsection (b) of Section 22949.80, which prevents the firearm industry from compiling or using personal information of minors for marketing purposes. We reverse the district court and clarify that our constitutional analysis applied to the entirety of Section 22949.80.” (emphasis added)
While we are thrilled with this outcome, we are mindful that the state may still seek to appeal, as they have so many times before.