Gun rights advocates have asked the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to dismantle California’s ammunition background check system, arguing in a new legal filing that the state’s regime is so riddled with technical errors that it blocks thousands of law-abiding citizens from exercising their rights for every single criminal it actually stops.
The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), joined by the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and the Second Amendment Law Center, filed an amicus brief Friday in support of the plaintiffs in Rhode v. Bonta.
The case challenges the constitutionality of Proposition 63, which requires Californians to undergo a background check and pay a fee every time they purchase ammunition.
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While the state argues the system is necessary for public safety, the SAF’s filing centers on a specific set of data released by the state itself covering the first half of 2023.
According to the brief, California processed nearly 540,000 standard eligibility checks between January and June of 2023. During that window, the system rejected 58,087 people due to administrative mismatches—such as an address on a driver’s license not perfectly matching a database record. By contrast, the system identified and denied only 141 individuals who were actually prohibited by law from owning firearms.
Attorneys for the SAF argue this results in a staggering ratio: approximately 412 law-abiding residents are turned away for every one prohibited person the system successfully catches.
“California’s ammunition background check regime defies Bruen by imposing a burdensome and error-prone system that rejects a large fraction of eligible purchasers,” said SAF Director of Legal Research and Education Kostas Moros.
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The brief argues that a rejection rate hovering around 11% constitutes a “facial unconstitutionality,” meaning the law is invalid on its face regardless of how it is applied. To illustrate the point, the filing draws a parallel to voting rights. The attorneys cite federal case law establishing that if a voter registration system erroneously rejected 10% of applicants—or 400 legitimate voters for every fraudulent one—the courts would strike it down immediately.
“The result must be no different when the right at issue implicates the Second Amendment, which is not some ‘second-class right,’” the brief states.
Beyond the raw failure rate of the background checks, the groups argue that the “cumulative burden” of California’s gun laws effectively prices lower-income residents out of self-defense.
The filing details the “prophylaxis-upon-prophylaxis” of state regulations facing a first-time gun owner. These include:
- A 10-day waiting period.
- A restricted roster of handguns that are often older models but more expensive than modern equivalents sold in other states.
- A recently implemented 11% excise tax on guns and ammo.
- A $5 fee for every single ammunition purchase.
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The brief also highlights that the current system acts as a total ban on non-residents. Under the current rules, a U.S. citizen visiting California from another state is entirely prohibited from purchasing ammunition within California borders, a restriction the SAF argues violates historical constitutional traditions.
The Rhode v. Bonta case is currently on appeal before the Ninth Circuit. The plaintiffs are asking the court to affirm a lower district court ruling that previously struck down the background check requirement as an unconstitutional barrier.
“Adding insult to injury, these same residents must also pay a fee to even purchase ammunition, which is unconscionable,” said SAF founder Alan M. Gottlieb. “SAF is dedicated to challenging these overreaches.”
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