In the latest challenge to California’s strict gun laws, Tracy Rifle and Pistol, along with three other gun dealers, are suing in federal court for injunctive relief from California Penal Code Section 26820, which bans gun dealers from advertising handguns for sale in a way that is visible from outside a store.1
The lawsuit asserts that this California law, which has been in effect for 91 years, violates First Amendment freedom of speech. The complaint states that the law prohibits free speech by restricting “truthful, nonmisleading commercial speech promoting lawful products or services…especially when the products or services are themselves protected by other constitutional rights.”2
The complaint, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District, names California Attorney General Kamela Harris, and Stephen J. Lindley, Chief of the California Bureau of Firearms, as co-defendants.
In another recent California case, Peruta v San Diego, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that San Diego’s law banning people from carrying a concealed handgun violates the Second Amendment.
Is Owning a Gun a Right or a Privilege?
Gun ownership is not a privilege; it is a right that our founding fathers felt was important enough to put in the Second Amendment.3
California has some of the strictest gun laws in the nation. The list of restrictions making people ineligible to own a gun in California is long, and goes on for eight pages in California Firearms Laws, a California Department of Justice Rulebook.4 While setting some restrictions on who can own a gun is a good idea, California gun laws are so restrictive that they appear to treat gun ownership as a privilege, not a right.
Let’s say you were a victim of rape or stalking, and you told your therapist you were feeling suicidal after the incident, and you agreed to spend a period of time in a mental hospital in order to get stabilized. You could be banned from owning a gun for five years in California. This is just one of the many reasons why you could be banned from legally owning a gun in California.
Call Wallin & Klarich Today if Your Gun Ownership Rights are Being Threatened
The criminal defense attorneys at Wallin & Klarich have over 30 years of experience successfully defending persons accused of violating California gun laws. We will fight to help you maintain your lawful right to protect yourself and your loved ones.
With offices located in Los Angeles, Sherman Oaks, Torrance, Orange County, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, West Covina and Victorville, there is an experienced Wallin & Klarich criminal defense attorney available to help you no matter where you work or live.
Call us today at (888) 280-6839 for a free phone consultation. We will get through this together.
1. [http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayText.xhtml?lawCode=PEN&division=6.&title=4.&part=6.&chapter=2.&article=2. ]↩
2. [http://public.calgunsfoundation.org/litigation/trap-v-harris/2014-11-10-trap-v-harris-complaint.pdf ]↩
3. [http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2014/02/13/10-56971%20web.pdf ]↩
4. [http://ag.ca.gov/firearms/forms/pdf/Cfl2007.pdf ]↩
