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Sometimes a judge says things so plainly, so authoritatively and with so much old-fashioned American commonsense that anyone paying attention is left speechless.
Some are left speechless out of deep appreciation. In the latest such example, these people are the citizens of United States who understand the nature of their freedom.
Others are left speechless because all their legal semantics have been sliced away from infringing upon American freedom by the mere thrust of a sharp pen.
Last week’s ruling in an NRA-supported challenge to California’s ban on the possession of magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition is such a case. Judge Roger T. Benitez of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California ruled that the ban and confiscation of these commonly owned devices is unconstitutional.
“California Penal Code Section 32310, as amended by Proposition 63, burdens the core of the Second Amendment by criminalizing the acquisition and possession of these magazines that are commonly held by law-abiding citizens for defense of self, home, and state,” wrote Judge Benitez. “The regulation is neither presumptively legal nor longstanding. The statute hits at the center of the Second Amendment and its burden is severe. When the simple test of Heller is applied, a test that persons of common intelligence can understand, the statute fails and is an unconstitutional abridgment. It criminalizes the otherwise lawful acquisition and possession of common magazines holding more than 10 rounds—magazines that law-abiding responsible citizens would choose for self-defense at home.”
Judge Benitez based his ruling on the fundamental nature of a right once won by men and women with muskets in their hands—the Second Amendment of the U.S. Bill of Rights.
“This decision is a freedom calculus decided long ago by Colonists who cherished individual freedom more than the subservient security of a British ruler,” wrote Judge Benitez. “The freedom they fought for was not free of cost then, and it is not free now.”
The NRA and California Rifle and Pistol Association supported the plaintiffs in this case. “Judge Benitez took the Second Amendment seriously and came to the conclusion required by the Constitution,” said Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action.
Judge Benitez had previously issued a preliminary injunction against the ban and confiscation law (CA Penal Code 32310 (a)) in 2017. That opinion reads like something the late great Justice Antonin Scalia might have penned.
Referring to the magazine ban in California Proposition 63, he wrote:
“There are also exceptions for employees of armored vehicle businesses and for movie and television actors when magazines are used as a prop. While there are other exceptions for licensed firearm dealers, manufacturers, and gunsmiths, there are no exceptions made for members of the Armed Forces, or those honorably discharged or retired. Likewise, there are no exceptions for civilian firearms instructors, concealed weapon permit holders, or families who live far from timely help by local law enforcement agencies and who must be self-reliant for their own defense, defense of their families, or of home and property. Finally, there are no exceptions made for citizens who, should the need ever arise, may be called upon to form a militia for the protection of the state from either foreign or domestic enemies.”.........
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