BELLEVUE, WA – A federal judge in California has granted a preliminary injunction in a Second Amendment Foundation challenge of two California statutes prohibiting gun shows at the Orange County Fairgrounds and on state-owned property, while denying a requested stay to allow the state time to file an appeal.
“This a huge victory for both the First and Second Amendments,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “We believe the court has sent a clear message to the State of California, Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta that the constitution trumps their personal animus toward gun owners and the Second Amendment.”
He was joined by SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut, who observed, “It is refreshing to see a California court correctly apply the law in a challenge that involves firearms. Judge Holcomb’s opinion catalogues the unconstitutionality of California’s law in an exacting manner, finding it violates the First and Second Amendments, as well as the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The State’s attempt to ban gun shows on state property could not rightfully withstand constitutional scrutiny and we are pleased with the Court’s decision.”
In his opinion, U.S. District Judge John W. Holcomb wrote, “Here, the Court finds sufficient evidence that SB 264 and SB 915 have a viewpoint-discriminatory purpose. Legislative history shows that the goal of the two statutes is to end gun shows in California, and, while the opinions and statements of legislators are not dispositive of viewpoint discrimination…those statements are circumstantial evidence that the statutes disfavor the lawful commercial speech of firearm vendors.”
SAF is joined in the case by B&L Productions (Crossroads of the West), the California Rifle & Pistol Association, Asian Pacific American Gun Owners Association, the Second Amendment Law Center and four private citizens. They are represented attorneys Don Kilmer in Idaho and C.D. Michel, Anna M. Barvir and Tiffany D. Cheuvront at Michel & Associates in California.