SEPTEMBER 2023
Support for the 2nd Amendment
California has had a state law that made it a crime to keep and bear common firearm magazines typically possessed for lawful purposes. U.S. District Court Judge Roger Benitez, who serves in the Southern District of California, had a very strong opinion on the case of Duncan v. Bonta. Duncan v. Bonta (as in the California Attorney General) is about the California law that makes it a crime to keep and bear common firearm magazines typically possessed for lawful purposes. Judge Benitez stated that “Based on the text, history and tradition of the Second Amendment, this law is clearly unconstitutional.” The Judge noted that the efforts to limit ammunition magazine capacity have been largely arbitrary with different states arriving at different numbers for how many rounds to allow in a magazine. He further stated that “the fact that there are so many different numerical limits demonstrates the arbitrary nature of magazine capacity limits.” In his footnotes Judge Benitez listed several cases where he said ammunition capacity was a matter of life and death for lawful gun owners. “There have been and there will be times where many more than 10 rounds are needed to stop attackers. Woe to the victim who runs out of ammunition before armed attackers do. The police will mark the ground with chalk, count the number of shell casings and file the report.” Three cheers for Judge Benitez.
“The best teachers are those who show you where to look but don’t tell you what to see.”
Alexandra K. Trenfor
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