The U.S. Justice Department sued California on Wednesday, aiming to strike down the state’s newly enacted “Glock Ban” and dismantle its restrictive list of legally approved firearms. Filed in federal court, the lawsuit argues that California’s restrictions openly violate the Second Amendment rights of citizens.
The legal challenge specifically targets two pieces of state policy. The first is California’s new law blocking the retail purchase of common handguns made by Glock, alongside firearms featuring similar firing mechanisms. The second is the state’s existing “Handgun Roster,” a regulatory list that strictly limits the specific types and models of handguns individuals are legally allowed to buy within the state.
Federal officials stated that the state has overstepped its constitutional boundaries by targeting widely owned firearms.
“The Second Amendment is a sacred right belonging to all Americans, even those in California. California cannot ban the most popular type of handgun in America,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “We will work to stop this blatant trampling of our rights by the California government to protect the rights of lawful gun owners.”
The Justice Department’s case hinges on recent judicial precedent. The federal government pointed to the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Wolford v. Lopez, which reaffirmed that the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect the right of citizens to carry handguns outside of their homes for self-defense. In that decision, the Supreme Court reiterated that individual states cannot block citizens from acquiring and using firearms that are in common use for self-protective purposes.
The Civil Rights Division is leading the litigation, framing the lawsuit as a necessary intervention against unconstitutional state overreach.
“The Civil Rights Division will defend law-abiding citizens from states that seek to disarm them illegally,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This lawsuit is yet another example of this Justice Department enforcing the Second Amendment by protecting citizens against unconstitutional state regulation of firearms.”
The lawsuit seeks an immediate halt to the enforcement of both the Glock ban and the handgun roster, a move that would allow Californians to purchase these firearms under the same federal standards applied across the rest of the country.
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