Federal judge blocks California law barring more than one gun purchase per month

California's law that prohibits buying more than one gun per month was struck down this week by a San Diego federal judge.   

U.S. District Judge William Hayes ruled in favor of several gun owners, firearm advocacy organizations and gun retailers who sued the state. Hayes stayed his decision for one month so the state may appeal.

The law was intended to cut down on what's known as straw purchases, in which someone legally buys a gun, then gives it to someone else who is prohibited from possessing a firearm.

The Firearms Policy Coalition, one of several plaintiffs who filed the lawsuit, praised the decision in a statement and noted it was one of several other California gun laws that have been overturned by federal courts in recent times.

Following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen, which altered the standard by which firearms-related cases could be analyzed, a number of gun laws have been ruled unconstitutional, while others that were previously upheld have been sent back to the lower courts for reanalysis. That decision holds that gun laws should be consistent with the nation's historical tradition of firearm regulations.   

The plaintiffs argued there was no historical record of a prohibition on law-abiding citizens from buying more than one gun per month and through that lens, the law violates the Second Amendment.

The state argued the restriction does not impact a person's ability to bear arms and that the law addresses "unprecedented social concerns" such as gun trafficking and straw purchases that "did not exist during the Founding or Reconstruction eras to the same extent that they exist today."

In his 24-page ruling, Hayes wrote that the state did not meet its "burden of producing a `well-established and representative historical analogue' to the (one gun per month) law."  

"California's one-gun-a-month law directly violates California resident's right to acquire arms and has no basis in history,'' Firearms Policy Coalition vice president and general counsel, Cody J, Wisniewski, said in a
statement. "Given it seems certain California will refuse to learn its lesson, we look forward to continuing to strike down its gun control regime and to defending this victory."