California has once again been caught overreaching on gun control, losing another court case in its quest to punish law-abiding gun owners for the crimes of the criminals that the state and its subordinate jurisdictions won't prosecute.

In 2013, California updated its 2001 Unsafe Handgun Act to mandate that new pistol models include “microstamping technology.” According to Stephen Gutowski, “In theory, microstamping would enable a gun to leave identifiable marks on every spent casing with the goal of helping police solve crimes. However, there has never been a production gun in the world that has implemented the theoretical technology.”

This meant, in practical terms, that California had banned the sale of handgun models made after 2013. As Judge Cormac Carney noted, “Since 2013, when the microstamping requirement was introduced, not a single new semiautomatic handgun has been approved for sale in California.” Because it was a clear attempt at violating the Second Amendment, he issued a preliminary injunction that would block the law.

This is only the latest in a series of losses by California. The state’s ban on high-capacity magazines and its mandate for background checks to purchase ammunition were both struck down already. The state’s “assault weapons ban” was dealt a blow in the courts in 2021 and currently sits before the same judge that presided over the two aforementioned cases.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down California’s ban on selling semi-automatic firearms to adults age 18-20 last year, and the state was also blocked from charging a fee for residents to bring challenges against its gun control laws. There are several more California gun control cases winding through the courts, ensuring that state Attorney General Rob Bonta stays busy.

Not to be lost among all of these cases is California’s intention. The state has embraced its role as the Democratic ideal and has obsessively tried to impose a gun control agenda focused only on law-abiding gun owners, never on criminals. For example, the state has softened the sentencing enhancements for gang members, who drive the gun violence problem in California and across the nation. In Los Angeles, gun-crime enhancements have also been thrown out the window.

As California fights tooth and nail for its gun control agenda, it must be remembered that that agenda targets law-abiding residents who are not prone to commit crimes anyway. That is what the Democratic Party wants to impose nationwide.

In California, only the courts stand between Democrats and their goals. Voters across the country should take note.