Overview

• A three-judge Ninth Circuit panel upheld a permanent injunction on July 24 that bars California from enforcing its 2019 requirement for background checks on every ammunition purchase.
• Judge Sandra Ikuta wrote that mandating checks for each ammo sale meaningfully constrains the right to keep and bear arms and lacks roots in historical firearm regulation under the Bruen standard.
• Judge Jay S. Bybee dissented, arguing the checks impose minimal burdens—typically a $1 fee and under a minute’s delay—and do not equate to a broad restriction on ammunition access.
• The lawsuit was filed in 2018 by a coalition of gun owners, rights groups and ammunition vendors challenging the expanded background-check regime, and district courts twice blocked the law before it reached the appeals court.
• California Attorney General Rob Bonta has indicated the state will seek en banc review or appeal to the Supreme Court to reinstate its first-in-the-nation ammunition background check requirement.