BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation filed a federal lawsuit in California challenging that state’s law requiring firearms dealers to video record all transactions, calling it a violation of First, Second, Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
At issue is California Penal Code section 26806. SAF is joined by the California Rifle & Pistol Association, Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners of California, the Gun Owners Foundation, On Target Indoor Shooting Range, Gaalswyk Enterprises and three private citizens. They are represented by attorneys C.D. Michel and Tiffany D. Cheufront, Michel & Associates in Long Beach, and Donald Kilmer, Kilmer Law Office in Idaho.
Named as defendants are California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Robert Bonta, in their official capacities, and several unidentified officials. The complaint was filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The case is known as Richards v. Newsom.
“Requiring firearms retailers to video record their transactions is not only an egregious violation of privacy,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb, “it involves an expense that is both cost-prohibitive, and could literally drive small dealers out of business. In addition, it would be impossible to record such transactions at gun shows, because at such events, dealers are merely vendors, operating in a large facility where such equipment would be impossible to install.”
“The state is imposing Orwellian tactics to literally view and overhear private conversations of anyone who walks into a gun shop or visits a gun show, or the home of a residence-based licensed firearms dealer,” noted SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut. “That is a violation of privacy to which no person exercising any other civil right would ever be subjected.”
Plaintiffs are seeking a preliminary and permanent injunction against the enforcement of California Penal Code section 26806.
This is the 14th lawsuit SAF has filed in 2023, challenging extremist gun control laws. Currently, SAF is engaged in 57 active lawsuits around the country.
Yesterday they filed a TRO
The Second Amendment Foundation and its partners in a federal lawsuit challenging California Penal Code § 26806 (SB 1384) have moved for a temporary restraining order to prevent the state from implementing this new Orwellian statute.
SAF attorneys have also filed a memorandum of points and authorities supporting the motion, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
SAF is joined by the California Rifle & Pistol Association, Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners of California, the Gun Owners Foundation, On Target Indoor Shooting Range, Gaalswyk Enterprises and three private citizens. They are represented by attorneys C.D. Michel and Tiffany D. Cheufront, Michel & Associates in Long Beach, and Donald Kilmer, Kilmer Law Office in Idaho. Defendants in the case are California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Robert Bonta, in their official capacities.
The statute takes effect Jan. 1, 2024. The lawsuit contends its provisions violate the First, Second, Fourth, Fifth and 14th Amendments, as well as the California State Constitution.
“Our motion for the TRO is direct and to the point,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “We believe it is imperative to prevent this law from being implemented because of the serious constitutional issues at stake.”
“The various tenets of Penal Code § 26806 amount to an egregious violation of several constitutional rights, including free speech, privacy and the right to keep and bear arms,” said SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut. “To impose what amounts to a mass surveillance regime in California is an afront to the rights of citizens across the state.”
More at saf.org
