Federal judge again rules that California's ban on assault weapons is unconstitutional

A federal judge who previously overturned California's three-decade-old ban on assault weapons did it again on Thursday, ruling that the state's attempts to prohibit sales of semiautomatic guns violates the constitutional right to bear arms...

U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez of San Diego conceded that powerful weapons like AR-15 rifles are commonly used by criminals, but said the guns are importantly also owned by people who obey the law and feel they need firearms to protect themselves...

"The State of California posits that its 'assault weapon' ban, the law challenged here, promotes an important public interest of disarming some mass shooters even though it makes criminals of law-abiding residents who insist on acquiring these firearms for self-defense," Benitez wrote..

The judge's ruling is nearly identical to a 2021 decision in which he called California's ban on assault weapons a "failed experiment." Benitez has has repeatedly struck down multiple California firearms laws..

California first restricted assault weapons in 1989, with multiple updates to the law since then.. Assault weapons as defined by the law are more dangerous than other firearms and are disproportionately used in crimes, mass shootings and against law enforcement, with more resulting casualties, the state attorney general's office argued in 2021, and barring them "furthers the state's important public safety interests."..

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