SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In the present era of gun control, blue states seem to prefer litigation. California Attorney General Rob Bonta has thrown the proverbial gauntlet, inviting a lawsuit from the Justice Department challenging its Glock pistol ban and gun roster.
In a June 30 response letter to the Justice Department’s Second Amendment Section, AG Bonta rejected the DOJ pre-suit demands to cease enforcing the Unsafe Handgun Act, California’s attempt to ban Glock, and Glock-style handguns.
The letter is in response to the Justice Department’s June 24 letter from AAG Harmeet Dhillon which offered the state an opportunity to enter pre-suit negotiations to solve the matter, or face litigation. California chose the latter, with AG Bonta stating “The California Department of Justice will not agree to these conditions,” adding “My office will continue to vigorously defend the Unsafe Handgun Act and Penal Code section 27595, just as we have defended California’s other constitutional, commonsense, and effective firearms laws.”
AAG Dhillon’s public response on X was direct: “See y’all in court! :)”
Readers may wonder why the state would choose this route. Outside of its deeply entrenched anti-gun ideological position, the litigation route is the obvious choice for the state. It is the classic example of the process being the punishment, with a lawsuit likely to take months if not many years to completely resolve, and leaving gun owners in the lurch throughout.
Additionally, the state is able to defend the suit with a relatively endless amount of taxpayer money, and, even if it loses, faces no real, consequential repercussions for passing and enforcing an unconstitutional measure. In our current legal system, the political operatives who promote these measures never face personal civil actions.
AAG Dhillon, and the Second Amendment Section, led by Barry Arrington, continue to have a 100% pro-2A record when it comes to legal actions related to the Second Amendment, as we’ve tracked. Most recently, the Second Amendment Section announced an investigation against Philadelphia for its subjective “good cause” firearms permitting standard.
