Miller v. Bonta is a pending court case before Judge Roger Benitez of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California concerning California's assault weapon ban, the Roberti–Roos Assault Weapons Control Act of 1989 (AWCA). Judge Roger Benitez struck down the ban in a ruling on June 5, 2021. A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit issued a stay of the ruling on June 21, 2021, which left the ban in place as appeals were litigated. The panel then vacated Judge Benitez’s ruling and remanded it back down after NYSRPA v. Bruen was decided. The case was known as Miller v. Becerra before Rob Bonta succeeded Xavier Becerra as Attorney General of California in April 2021.
Background
Gun laws in California are among the strictest in the country. The Roberti–Roos Assault Weapons Control Act of 1989 (AWCA) banned the ownership and transfer of specific models of firearms that were categorized as assault weapons. Signed by Governor George Deukmejian, a Republican, it was the first law passed in response to the Cleveland Elementary School shooting in Stockton that year. It inspired similar bans in six other states and the District of Columbia, as well as the Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994 that expired in 2004. In the years since, assault weapons banned by these measures have been used in school shootings in the United States, which remain gun free zones. An amendment to AWCA took effect in 2000, banning assault weapons based on an alternative set of characteristics instead of by model. However, gun owners have been able to comply with the law by making minor adjustments to the weapons or purchasing "California-compliant" rifles of all types.
In August 2000, the AWCA survived a state constitutional challenge in Kasler v. Lockyer before the California Supreme Court. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Nordyke v. King that the Second Amendment, which protects the right to bear arms, does not apply to state and local governments. However, the U.S. Supreme Court later ruled in McDonald v. City of Chicago that it does apply to all levels of government, making it possible for the act to be challenged in federal court.
Rulings by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, headquartered in San Diego, can have implications across the entire Ninth Circuit, by far the largest in the country. Judge Roger Benitez was nominated to the court by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the Senate with 98 votes in favor and one against, despite overwhelming opposition by a committee of the American Bar Association. Benitez has overturned several California gun control laws. In Duncan v. Becerra and Rhode v. Becerra, he struck down portions of 2016 California Proposition 63 that prohibited possession of high-capacity magazines and required background checks for ammunition purchases, respectively. The state appealed both decisions; the ruling in Duncan v. Bonta was reversed by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Gun control advocates say the San Diego court's unique process for transferring related cases to a single judge, out of the court's more than a dozen judges, has encouraged gun rights advocates to engage in forum shopping.
Legal proceedings
District court
On August 15, 2019, James Miller, a board member of the San Diego County Gun Owners, sued Attorney General Xavier Becerra and the Director of the California Bureau of Firearms, alleging that the ban was an unconstitutional restriction of Second Amendment rights. He was joined by the San Diego County Gun Owners Political Action Committee, California Gun Rights Foundation, Second Amendment Foundation, and Firearms Policy Coalition, along with three other San Diego County residents who said they legally own rifles or pistols but are unable to use high-capacity magazines in them due to the law.
The case was argued before Senior Judge Roger Benitez of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. The plaintiffs argued that the definition of "assault weapon" is politically motivated and prevents law-abiding citizens from obtaining and using firearms for self-defense, hunting, and other legal purposes. Becerra's office argued that the ban was necessary because assault weapons are more lethal and are disproportionately used in crimes and mass shootings. Benitez denied requests by Everytown for Gun Safety and the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence to file amicus briefs in favor of the state. In April 2021, Rob Bonta took over the defense when he succeeded Becerra as Attorney General of California.