Beginning on March 4, 2020 California Governor Gavin Newson declared a state of emergency in response to the emerging COVID-19 pandemic. Thereafter, Newsom, and the associated State and Local Defendant Officials issued a series of “stay at home” orders, that amongst other things, prohibited the purchase, sale or transfer of firearms and ammunition by proclaiming licensed firearms dealers to be “non-essential” businesses and shuttering those businesses upon threat of prosecution. As a result, the ability of peaceable Californians to acquire constitutionally protected arms was effectively halted. 

On March 27, 2020, the Second Amendment Foundation filed suit, joined by numerous individual Californians who desired to acquire firearms during the pendancy of the stay at home orders; firearms retailers who desired to execute those purchases or transfers; and three fellow advocacy groups, arguing that the Defendant’s Stay at Home Orders violated the Second, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. The lawsuit asks the Court to declare licensed firearm retailers to be “essential” businesses not subject to the stay at home order restrictions, as well as declaratory and injunctive relief stating that the imposition and enforcement of the Orders violated Plaintiffs’ Constitutional rights, and must therefore be enjoined.

To view documents filed on appeal, please visit the Court of Appeals docket.

Case Team: George M. Lee, John Dillon, Raymond DiGuiseppe

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