SCOTUS Vacates Duncan v. Bonta Ruling

Today, June 30, 2022, the United States Supreme Court finally acted on pending Second Amendment certiorari petitions. First among them is Duncan v. Bonta, the now famous case which heralded “freedom week” back in 2019. The court issued a “GVR,” which is short for grant, vacate, and remand. That means the petition for supreme court review is granted, the lower court opinion is vacated of any legal precedential significance, and then case is then sent back down to the appeal court to be adjudicated in a manner consistent with the court’s opinion in the Bruen case that it ruled on last week. This is extremely positive and exciting news that we’ve been anticipating for a long time.

The Supreme Court also issued GVRs in three other Second Amendment cases: Association of New Jersey Rifle, et al. v. Bruck, Bianchi v. Frosh, and Young v. Hawaii. The first is the east coast counterpart to Duncan because it involves large capacity magazines. The second is an assault weapons case, and the third is largely about the right to carry in public.

All four cases must now be reviewed under the standard that the court set out in Bruen, which is really just the court revivifying the Heller standard but with clearer guidance about how to perform the Heller test. Any reasonably good faith in application of that test to Duncan ought to result in affirming Judge Benitez’s 2019 ruling making large capacity magazines freely legal to sell and acquire in California.

 

Stay tuned to CRPA for more updates and contribute to the Second Amendment Reckoning to help us fight for your rights!