The Department of Justice sued California on Wednesday after warning the blue state against implementing a ban on the commercial sale of semiautomatic Glock-style handguns.
Before filing the lawsuit, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon gave Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and California Attorney General Rob Bonta one week to consider entering pre-suit settlement negotiations that would have avoided litigation altogether. The Tuesday deadline passed with no commitment from the two Democratic leaders to back off from the Glock ban.
Though the ban took effect at the start of California’s new fiscal year, the Trump administration hopes to halt the firearms law.
“The Civil Rights Division will defend law-abiding citizens from states that seek to disarm them illegally,” Dhillon said in a statement. “This lawsuit is yet another example of this Justice Department enforcing the Second Amendment by protecting citizens against unconstitutional state regulation of firearms.”
In the 17-page complaint, the DOJ argues the law is “presumptively unconstitutional” under the Second Amendment because the Glock ban “deprives the citizens of California of the opportunity to acquire those handguns.”
Last week, Dhillon based her argument on the popularity of semiautomatic handguns in the nation to make the case that a law prohibiting “their use is invalid.”
The regulation prohibits licensed firearms dealers from selling semiautomatic handguns, specifically Glocks and Glock-style pistols, over concerns that such weapons could be easily converted into fully automatic guns with illegal switches. Newsom signed the bill into law last fall after the California legislature passed the measure.
The law, however, does not outlaw current ownership of the pistols or the private resale of such firearms.
The complaint also challenges California’s existing handgun roster, a list of specific pistols and revolvers legally approved for retail sale, arguing it’s unconstitutional as well.
In making its argument, the DOJ pointed to a recent Supreme Court ruling that struck down a sweeping gun law in Hawaii.
“The United States Supreme Court recently reaffirmed that the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect the right to carry handguns outside the home for self-defense in Wolford v. Lopez,” the department said in a press release. “The Court reiterated that states cannot prevent citizens from using commonly used firearms for self-defense.”
The federal government is asking the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to prevent the state and law enforcement from enforcing the Glock ban and the handgun roster. The latter measure is the primary enforcement mechanism of California’s Unsafe Handgun Act, which took effect in 2001.
DOJ FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST VIRGINIA OVER ‘ASSAULT WEAPON’ BAN
This was not the only firearms-related federal lawsuit filed on Wednesday.
The DOJ sued Virginia over a proposed “assault weapons” ban signed by Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA). The law was supposed to take effect on Wednesday, but it remains temporarily blocked after state judges intervened. The DOJ wants a federal court to enjoin the defendants from enforcing the “assault weapons” ban.