For the second time in as many months, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a California firearms regulation is unconstitutional.
In its latest ruling on Thursday, the court ruled that a law which requires gun owners to submit to a background check, at the purchaser's expense, every time they purchase ammunition violates gun owners' Second Amendment rights.
Ninth Circuit rules California’s ammo background check law violates Second Amendment
— NewsWire (@NewsWire_US) July 24, 2025
The ruling comes a month after the court decided that California's gun rationing law, which limited most gun purchases to one per month, was also unconstitutional.
FPC WIN: Today, Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) announced a resounding 3-0 victory over California’s "one-gun-per-month" gun ban law in a new Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision. https://t.co/o4FFC2MpCN
— Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy) June 20, 2025
The latest ruling struck a nerve with California Governor Gavin Newsom, who posted a little tantrum on X.
Strong gun safety laws save lives — and today’s decision is a slap in the face to the recent progress we've made to protect Californians from the horror of gun violence.
— Governor Gavin Newsom (@CAgovernor) July 24, 2025
Californians voted to require background checks on ammunition. Their voices should matter. https://t.co/qAXDCIlbLS
While it's true that voters in California approved a 2016 referendum, Governor Hair Gel misses two essential points. First, a state referendum in no way, shape, or form outweighs the Constitution. Second, this law initially went into effect in 2018 and was upheld by the Ninth Circuit, but that was all before Bruen.
California voters in 2016 passed a ballot initiative championed by Gov. Gavin Newsom that in part required background checks for ammunition. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found that provision violates the 2nd Amendment. https://t.co/JSqlqYzsGm
— CalMatters (@CalMatters) July 24, 2025
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It was the US Supreme Court decision in the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen that changed everything.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down California’s first-in-the-nation law requiring background checks for ammunition purchases, another blow to the state’s gun control framework that has been pared down, case by case, since the U.S. Supreme Court dramatically expanded gun rights in a monumental 2022 decision.
The California law that forced ammunition purchasers to pass a background check was passed by voters in 2016. Gov. Gavin Newsom, at the time the state’s lieutenant governor, championed the initiative and was its primary advocate.
In 2018, before the law went into effect, a group of gun rights advocates and ammunition vendors sued to block the law.
They were successful – in 2020, a federal district court judge handed down an injunction against the background checks of ammunition purchasers. But at the time, the 9th Circuit paused that order and allowed the law to take effect.
Two years later, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen that a New York concealed-carry law unfairly constrained people’s right to carry a gun, and California’s gun control regime was thrown into chaos.
The 9th Circuit then sent the case on background checks for ammunition purchases back down to the federal district court. That court again ruled against the background checks.
Today’s ruling helped clarify what a post-Bruen future could look like.
A post-Bruen future that forces states to adhere to the constitutional rights of their constituents keeps leftist politicians like Newsom up at night.
Our voices have never mattered to you before, GuvNuh Greasy Slimy Lizard Man.. pic.twitter.com/pLOZHF23CB
— Cathy A. Salazar (@LvlyWords) July 25, 2025
California has the most mass sh**tings in America yet some of the strictest guns laws.
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) July 24, 2025
Gavin Newsom refusing to jail violent criminals and deport illegals is the issue.
Newsom needs to resign. He’s cost countless lives due to his inaction.
Resign? He wants to be the next President and bring his brand of Commiefornia politics to the entire nation. No, the metrosexual champion of gun control loves himself way too much to resign.
SUCK IT NEWSOM! https://t.co/ghyRB6HBY7 pic.twitter.com/9FjLurpY3A
— Kristi (@TheyCallMeNans) July 24, 2025
Yeah, that pretty much sums up the court's decision.
Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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