Overview
Duncan v. Bonta (U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Cir., Nov. 30, 2021): The 9th Circuit, in a 7-4 decision, upheld California’s ban on high-capacity magazines holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition, reversing a district judge’s decision—and a previous decision by a three-judge Ninth Circuit panel—that the state statute violated gun owners’ Second Amendment rights. The appellate court applied intermediate scrutiny because the ban “imposed only a minimal burden on the core Second Amendment right to bear arms.” The court held that the magazine size restriction only minimally interferes with the right to self-defense, noting that there was no evidence of persons unable to defend their homes for lack of a high-capacity magazine. Further, the restriction does not constitute a governmental “taking” of private property because California allows gunowners to sell or modify their property. Read the full decision here.
View all cases in the Judicial Trends in Public Health – December 14, 2021.
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