BELLEVUE, WA – Attorneys for the Second Amendment Foundation and three other advocacy groups have filed an amended complaint against California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent enforcement of a new law restricting possession of so-called “bullet button assault weapons” because of a problem with the registration system during the week prior to the deadline.
SAF is joined in the case by the Calguns Foundation, Firearms Policy Coalition, Firearms Policy Foundation and seven private citizens. The motion was filed in Shasta County Superior Court where the original lawsuit was filed. The case is known as Sharp, et al v. Attorney General Xavier Becerra, et al and documents may be viewed or downloaded here.
At issue is the apparent failure of the online California Firearms Application Reporting System (CFARS) operated by the state Department of Justice during the days prior to the registration deadline. During the week of June 25-30, which was the statutory registration deadline, the CFARS system was inaccessible and inoperable on a variety of web browsers across the state.
Many users who were able to initially log in and begin the process could not finish because the system crashed, obliterating all of their work, lawsuit alleges. The CFARS system was substantially underfunded and understaffed from its inception, according to the plaintiffs, and they want to prevent enforcement of the ban against people who could not comply with the law because of the system failure.
“This unjust California government created problem must be stopped immediately,” said SAF Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “Gun owners should not be put at risk due to state regulatory incompetence.”
“California cannot have it both ways,” noted Calguns Foundation Chairman Gene Hoffman. “If it’s going to register and ban guns it cannot, through ineptitude, also make registration an illusion and defacto confiscation.”
“This is fundamentally a simple lawsuit about a troubling issue,” added Firearms Policy Coalition President Brandon Combs. “Attorney General Becerra and his DOJ had one job to do: Provide a functional system for gun owners to use in registering their eligible firearms. But instead of doing their jobs, they created a huge new mess for law enforcement and put innocent people and lawfully-owned property at serious risk.”