Ohio AG Dave Yost coleads 25-state coalition challenging California ammunition restrictions

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador are leading a coalition of 25 states in opposing California’s latest attempts to undermine the Second Amendment by tightening restrictions on ammunition.

“California has spun a web of burdensome laws designed to stop residents from buying ammunition,” Yost said in a Jan. 6 news release posted on the AG's website. “The right to bear arms includes the right to buy ammunition — and we’re asking the court to once again declare these laws unconstitutional.”

In an amicus brief filed Jan. 5, Yost and his counterparts urge the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to uphold an injunction blocking California from enforcing its ammunition background-check requirements, according to the release.

Such state laws could require California residents to pay up to $19 for a background check — a process often lasting nearly a week — every time they purchase ammunition, according to the release. Similar restrictions apply to ammunition imported from out of state.

The brief argues that these laws place an unconstitutional burden on the Second Amendment rights of California residents, according to the release.

“California’s ammunition background-check and anti-importation provisions make firearms unusable to California residents unless they buy the state’s renewed permission to reload them every time they run low on ammunition,” the brief states.

The brief cites legal precedent affirming that arms-bearing rights include the right to ammunition. It also asserts that California has failed a legal test requiring the state to prove the laws are consistent with the nation’s historical tradition. On the contrary, the brief states, the California laws in question are unprecedented.

Two courts, including a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit, have already ruled that the laws infringe on constitutional rights, according to the release. The Ninth Circuit has granted California’s request for the full court to rehear the case.

Joining Yost and Labrador in signing the amicus brief are the attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

A separate amicus brief was filed by the U.S. Department of Justice. Per a Jan. 6 article by NRA-ILA:

Yesterday, the U.S. DOJ and the 25-state coalition each filed amicus briefs arguing that the ammunition restrictions violate the Second Amendment.

The DOJ’s brief asserts that the laws establishing the background check requirement “do not pass even the ‘laugh test,’” because they “evoke[] a convoluted board game, not a serious attempt to further a legitimate purpose.” The regulation is “designed to burden the exercise of the right to bear arms,” the DOJ argues, and “a firearms regulation that seeks to frustrate the exercise of the right to keep and bear arms is a per se violation of the Second Amendment.”