A California law that would restrict the firearms' industry's to advertise in certain publications will remain blocked, after the full U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals refused the bid from California's attorney general for a new hearing in the state's bid to overcome an appeals' panels ruling that the law amounted to an unconstitutional "muzzling of speech" that would "straitjacket the First Amendment."
On Feb. 20, the Ninth Circuit formally denied the request from California Attorney General Rob Bonta for a new hearing before a larger group of Ninth Circuit judges, known as an "en banc" review hearing.
The order denying the en banc hearing noted no Ninth Circuit judges had requested a vote by their colleagues on the petition. And the denial came without any written dissents.
The denial for rehearing was welcomed by C.D. Michel, president of the California Rifle & Pistol Association, and whose law firm brought the constitutional challenge to the law, on behalf of Junior Shooters magazine.
"The case will now be sent back down to the trial court," Michel said in a statement posted to the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. "We shall see what games the state tries to play once it gets there, but this is a huge WIN for the plaintiffs, and for shooting sports development and promotion!" (emphasis in original)
The denial cements the ruling of three-judge panel, which was issued in September and slapped an injunction on the state, blocking Bonta and others from enforcing the law.
That decision had overturned a lower court's refusal to block the law.
Enacted by California's Democratic supermajority and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2022, the law, known as AB2571, would have prohibited firearms manufacturers and sellers from advertising gun in any way that the state determined is intended to make firearms "attractive to minors."
The law would allow the state to hit companies it believes has violated the rule with fines of up to $25,000 per violation.
The law was immediately challenged by Junior Sports Magazines Inc., which publishes Junior Shooters magazine, which focuses in firearms-related products and activities.
Junior Shooters asserted the law violates their rights to free speech, and amounts to unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination by the state of California against gun sellers, which the Democrats who control Sacramento wish to stifle and put out of business.
A Los Angeles federal judge, Christina A. Snyder, had rejected Junior Shooters' request for an injunction. In that ruling, Snyder had sided with the state, determining the law only applied to "commercial speech," or speech that is delivered to promote a business or financial goal.
Snyder said she believed the law was "no more restrictive than necessary to advance the government's substantial interest in reducing unlawful firearm possession and preventing violence."
On appeal, however, the unanimous Ninth Circuit panel said Judge Snyder's reasoning was incorrect and relied on bare assertions from state officials that the speech-restricting law would somehow stop "unlawful gun use among minors."
"The First Amendment demands more than good intentions and wishful thinking to warrant the government's muzzling of speech," wrote Ninth Circuit Judge Kenneth K. Lee in the September Ninth Circuit ruling.
The judges noted their belief the law was enacted by the state to attempt to use the commercial speech doctrine as a shield for backdoor attacks against the gun industry, in general, while taking no political action to actually restrict the ability of minors to use firearms - a move the judges noted would have met with large political opposition.
With the injunction in place, the case will be sent back to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles for potentially more hearings on the merits of the case. The law cannot be enforced in the meantime.
Junior Shooters was represented in the case by attorneys Michel and Anna M. Barvir, of Michel & Associates PC, of Long Beach; and Donald Kilmer, Law Offices of Donald Kilmer, of Caldwell, Idaho.