Update, Wednesday, March 12: The Supreme Court announced this afternoon that Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy, who handles emergency appeals from California and other state’s in the 9th Circuit, rejected the National Rifle Association’s bid for an injunction to block enforcement of Sunnyvale’s ban on large-capacity firearms magazines.
The practical effect of Kennedy’s ruling: Last week’s decision by U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Whyte of San Jose, an order rejecting the NRA’s challenge to the magazine ban and upholding the Sunnyvale law, will stand. The NRA, representing five Sunnyvale residents, argued that the ban on magazines holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition violates the Second Amendment-guaranteed right to bear arms.
Original post (Friday, March 7): The National Rifle Association has one more stop in its fight to block enforcement of Sunnyvale’s ban on large-capacity firearms magazines. The gun group said Friday it will ask the U.S. Supreme Court for an emergency injunction to suspend the voter-approved law while an appeals panel in San Francisco considers the case.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Whyte refused to grant a preliminary injunction against the ban on large magazines. The ruling allowed the provision to take effect on Thursday.
Whyte ruled (full order embedded below) that ownership of magazines that can accept more than 10 rounds of ammunition is “hardly central” to the Second Amendment’s guarantee of the right to bear arms:
The right to possess magazines having a capacity to accept more than ten rounds lies on the periphery of the Second Amendment right, and proscribing such magazines is, at bare minimum, substantially related to an important government interest. No court has yet entered a preliminary injunction against a law criminalizing the possession of magazines having a capacity to accept more than ten rounds, nor has any court yet found that such a law infringes the Second Amendment. Upon the present record, this court declines to be the first. Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction is DENIED.
The magazine ban was part of Sunnyvale’s Measure C, passed last November with 66 percent voter support. In addition to prohibiting large-capacity magazines, it requires residents to report lost or stolen firearms and to store weapons safely when they’re not in the immediate possession of the owner. It further requires ammunition sellers to keep records of all sales.