Category: All About Guns
Federal District Judge Roger T. Benitez has once again knocked down California’s magazine ban, concluding that the law is unconstitutional, but the judge stayed his decision for ten days to give the state a chance to appeal his decision. The judge wrote:
“Defendant Attorney General Rob Bonta, and his officers, agents, servants, employees, and attorneys, and those persons in active concert or participation with him, and those duly sworn state peace officers and federal law enforcement officers who gain knowledge of this injunction order, or know of the existence of this injunction order, are enjoined from enforcing California Penal Code § 32310.”
Duncan v. Bonta centered on California’s ban on standard capacity magazines, often defined as those capable of holding more than ten rounds of ammunition.
Enacted in 2016 as part of Proposition 63, this law sought to criminalize the mere possession of such magazines, even for law-abiding gun owners who had legally acquired them before the ban came into effect. Plaintiffs argued that this ban amounted to an unconstitutional infringement on their Second Amendment rights.
In 2019, when the case then known as Duncan v. Becerra, Judge Benitez issued a summary judgment for the plaintiffs, temporarily blocking the enforcement of California’s ban on standard-capacity magazines. Judge Benitez’s ruling was rooted in the belief that this ban violated the Second Amendment and deprived Californians of their right to self-defense. He noted that millions of responsible gun owners in California had used these magazines for lawful purposes, particularly for self-defense.
After the ruling, it set off what Californians called “Freedom Week,” where citizens of the Golden State rushed to the internet to buy standard capacity magazines.
The state would ask and receive a stay on the judge’s decisions. The Californians could keep the magazines they purchased during this time period. Because of the ten-day stay, there will not be a repeat of the Freedom Week for the time being.
The case would make it to the Supreme Court of The United States (SCOTUS) before being remanded to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals after the Bruen decision. The Ninth Circuit would then remand it back to Judge Benitez. Many saw this as the Ninth trying to delay the inevitable decision for the plaintiffs.
Judge Benitez’s new decision shared most of the same arguments as his original decision. He called the magazine limitation arbitrary because each state regulates the number of allowed rounds differently, with most having no restrictions.
“The fact that there are so many different numerical limits demonstrates the arbitrary nature of magazine capacity limits,” the judge wrote.
Judge Benitez also took issue with the state’s argument that having more than ten rounds is unnecessary for self-defense. He took the pro-gun stance that even though you might not need more than ten rounds in most situations to defend yourself, it is better to have it when you need it than to play the odds and take a chance.
“There have been, and there will be, times where many more than 10 rounds are needed to stop attackers,” Judge Benitez wrote. “…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.”
The state has already issued a notice of appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals but faces an uphill battle now that it cannot use interest balancing. Better known as intermediate scrutiny, interest balancing balances the state’s wants against the people’s rights. The Bruen decision rejected the legal theory, stating that any law must be consistent with the Second Amendment’s text, history, and tradition.
If the Ninth Circuit doesn’t extend the stay, it will block the law after ten days, allowing Californians to acquire standard capacity magazines. However, people expect the Circuit Court to extend the stay until it can rule on the decision.
Decision. Signed by Judge Roger T. Benitez on 9/22/2023 by AmmoLand Shooting Sports News on Scribd
NOTICE OF APPEAL to the 9th Circuit as to 149 Order by Xavier Becerra. by AmmoLand Shooting Sports News on Scribd
About John Crump
John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist; he has written about firearms and interviewed people of all walks of life.
Cop Talk Colt
Colt 1877 DA was a favorite of Hardin’s by the time of his death. It ain’t about the guns, it’s about timeless human dynamics.
We can’t expect to defeat enemies we don’t understand. It’s why LAPD’s officer survival guru Rich Wemmer interviewed cop-killers in prison, and why Dennis Anderson and Charles Remberg did the same for their Calibre Press Street Survival book and seminars.
There’s little new in the concept, and an often ignored source of research are incidents from relatively long ago. In his letters and particularly his autobiography, John Wesley Hardin bragged about how he killed policemen in the third quarter of the 19th Century. The cunning ploys he used remain lethally dangerous to cops today.
In his own words, Hardin — a racist anti-authoritarian who hated African-Americans and lawmen with equal venom — detailed how he murdered black Texas State Police officer Green Perrymore in September, 1871. Hardin wrote the arresting officer had him at gunpoint when “He said, ‘Give me those pistols.’ I said ‘All right,’ and handed him the pistols, handle foremost. One of the pistols turned a somerset in my hand and went off … and (sent) him sprawling on the floor with a bullet through his head, quivering in blood.”
cop talk book
The Last Gunfighter is the most useful Hardin biography Mas has found.
Hidden Second Weapons
With 41 dead men attributed to his tally, the one murder for which Hardin was convicted and served hard time was the death of Deputy Charles Webb in 1874. Hardin wrote, “… I told him my pistol was behind the bar and threw open my coat to show him. But he did not know I had a good one under my vest.” That was the one he used very shortly thereafter to shoot the deputy in the brain. Hardin was arrested for it years later — leading to the following.
Hardin bragged he had killed multiple officers with their own guns he grabbed when he caught them off guard. But at least one lawman was savvy enough to see that coming and save his own life, and that of his brother officer.
It happened in 1877. Texas Rangers had arrested Hardin on a train in Pensacola, Florida for the murder of Deputy Webb. The lawmen had killed Hardin’s accomplice, Jim Mann, and pistol-whipped Hardin into submission in the course of that arrest.
Captain John Armstrong and Special Detective Jack Armstrong were transporting the handcuffed Hardin to jail and trial. Like so many psychopaths, Hardin used his charming personality to lull his intended victims off guard. Here, in a letter to his wife, Hardin explained how he planned to escape:
“Jack and Armstrong were now getting intimate with me, and when dinner came I suggested the necessity of removing my cuffs and they agreed to do so. Armstrong unlocked the jewelry and started to turn around, exposing his six-shooter to me, when Jack jerked him around and pulled his pistol at the same time. ‘Look out,’ he said, ‘John will kill us and escape.’ Of course, I laughed at him and ridiculed the idea.
It was really the very chance I was looking for, but Jack had taken the play away just before it got ripe. I intended to jerk Armstrong’s pistol, kill Jack Duncan or make him throw up his hands. I could have made him unlock my shackles, or get the key away from his dead body and do it myself. I could then have easily made my escape. That time never came again.”
cop hardin
Hardin: This cop-killer wrote an autobiography, The Life of John Wesley Hardin. It’s harder to defeat enemies you don’t understand.
Constant Vigilance
As we look sadly upon such recent events as the murder of Wyandotte County, Kansas Deputies Patrick Rohrer and Theresa King in June, 2018, slain when a suspect they were transporting gained control of a police weapon, we are reminded this sort of thing is a continuing concern. Security holsters and weapon retention training have improved the situation, but constant vigilance and keeping our guard up remain keys to survival.
The Letters of John Wesley Hardin by Roy and Jo Ann Stamps, The Last Gunfighter: John Wesley Hardin by Richard Marohn, and The Life of John Wesley Hardin Written By Himself are all compelling resources, available through Amazon or your local library. They remind us homicidal gunmen aren’t about AR15’s or modern trends. They’re about timeless human dynamics, and the more we know about how these events have happened in the past, the better we can prepare to keep them from recurring in the future.