California’s 33-year-old law banning assault weapons is unconstitutional, violating the right to bear arms, a federal judge declared Thursday. 

US District Judge Roger Benitez pointed to the Second Amendment’s right to “keep and bear arms” and the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, which established that gun restriction measures must be “consistent with this nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation” in ruling against California’s assault weapons ban. 

“Like the Bowie Knife which was commonly carried by citizens and soldiers in the 1800s, ‘assault weapons’ are dangerous, but useful,” Benitez wrote in his 79-page decision.

“But unlike the Bowie Knife, the United States Supreme Court has said, ‘[t]here is a long tradition of widespread lawful gun ownership by private individuals in this country.’”

Benitez argued that the 1989 law, which prohibits the ownership of high-capacity, semi-automatic rifles, such as the AR-15, in the Golden State, creates “the extreme policy that a handful of criminals can dictate the conduct and infringe on the freedom of law-abiding citizens.”

“California’s answer to the criminal misuse of a few is to disarm its many good residents. That knee-jerk reaction is constitutionally untenable, just as it was 250 years ago,” he added. 

California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a notice of appeal immediately after the San Diego-based judge’s ruling, arguing that the decision is “dangerous and misguided.” 

“Weapons of war have no place on California’s streets,” Bonta said in a statement. “This has been state law in California for decades, and we will continue to fight for our authority to keep our citizens safe from firearms that cause mass casualties.” 

Benitez granted Bonta’s request for a stay of the decision until the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit can hear the state’s appeal, meaning that California’s assault weapons restrictions remain in effect, for now. 

Benitez had previously declared California’s assault weapon ban unconstitutional in 2021, but the 9th Circuit vacated that ruling and later ordered the judge to reconsider the case, in light of the Supreme Court’s 2022 New York case.

The lawsuit Benitez ruled on was filed by the San Diego County Gun Owners Political Action Committee, California Gun Rights Foundation, Second Amendment Foundation and Firearms Policy Coalition.

It is one of several that have been filed challenging California’s strict gun control measures, which numerous Democratic congressional lawmakers and President Biden seek to mimic on a federal level.