A federal judge has struck down a California law that prohibits the purchase of more than one gun in a 30-day period.

“U.S. District Judge William Hayes sided with a group of California residents, gun retailers and gun rights nonprofits in finding that the one-gun-a-month law did not fit within the nation’s historical tradition of firearms regulation,” Reuters reports.

The judge stayed his ruling for 30 days to give the state time to appeal.

Per Reuters:

The ruling is the latest to deem a state gun law unconstitutional in the wake of the high court’s landmark decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which dramatically expanded gun rights.

Bill Sack, the director of legal operations for the Second Amendment Foundation, one of the groups challenging the law, told Reuters that the California law was a clear violation of the 2nd Amendment.

“Inherent to the right to keep and bear arms is the right to acquire them,” Sack said.

A spokesperson from the California attorney general’s office, which defended the law, said it was reviewing the ruling.

The law, which was updated to include more restrictions in 2021 and in 2024, is meant to cut down on straw purchases of guns, in which one person buys a gun for another person who may be legally barred from purchasing it themselves.

“Defendants have not met their burden of producing a ‘well-established and representative historical analogue’ to the [one-gun-a-month] law,” the opinion read, according to the Firearms Policy Coalition.

“The Court therefore concludes that Plaintiffs are entitled to summary judgment as to the constitutionality of the [one-gun-a-month] law under the Second Amendment,” it added.

More from the Firearms Policy Coalition:

“Another week, another California gun control law declared unconstitutional by a federal court,” said Cody J. Wisniewski, FPC Action Foundation’s Vice President and General Counsel, and counsel for FPC. “California’s one-gun-a-month law directly violates California resident’s right to acquire arms and has no basis in history. Given it seems certain California will refuse to learn its lesson, we look forward to continuing to strike down its gun control regime and to defending this victory.”

The Court instructed the parties to file a proposed judgment in seven days, which will “include language that enforcement of the judgment is stayed for thirty (30) days to facilitate an appeal.”

Plaintiffs in this case are six individual FPC members, PWGG, L.P., North County Shooting Center, San Diego County Gun Owners PAC, and the Second Amendment Foundation.

Read the full opinion HERE.

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