California DOJ continues dumping handguns from "approved" list, attempting to affect a total semi-automatic pistol ban

If you view the implementation of an unworkable microstamping law as the intentional sabotage of the California handgun market by a rogue, liberty-oppressing government, you would be right.

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28 handgun models in common use were removed from the handgun roster by the California Department of Justice since January 28, 2014, and are now unavailable to gun buyers, reports Calguns. Of those, 22 are manufactured by Smith & Wesson, Inc.

However, California gun owners have reason to be optimistic, say the groups. In a major development, firearm manufacturers Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc., have joined handgun maker Glock, Inc., in support of a federal Second Amendment civil rights lawsuit seeking to overturn the handgun regulation scheme commonly known as the “handgun roster.”

“SAF will be eternally grateful for the timely support from all three companies, which we believe strongly reinforces our case,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb.

In one of two new declarations filed with the trial court, Smith & Wesson CEO James Debney stated that “as a result of the microstamping requirement, Smith & Wesson is losing its ability to sell many of its semi-automatic handguns in California, as its handguns are forced off the roster [by the California Department of Justice].”

The lawsuit, filed by Second Amendment Foundation and The Calguns Foundation, seeks to overturn the entire roster scheme and restore the full handgun market to California consumers. The case is helmed by noted civil rights attorneys Alan Gura of Alexandria, Virginia, Donald Kilmer of San Jose, California, and Jason Davis of Mission Viejo, California.

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California Attorney General Kamala Harris went for all of the proverbial marbles when she implemented a microstamping requirement that cannot be met by manufacturers of semi-automatic pistols. As a direct result of the technically non-feasible scheme, no new semi-automatic pistol designs can be approved for sale in California, while the state is culling an average of 59 semi-automatic pistols from the approved list every year, and have been for the past decade. The obvious goal is the complete destruction of the new semi-automatic pistol market in California, which at this pace will be complete in a decade.

The plaintiffs in the case are going all-in in the other direction, challenging the very existence of the approved list itself on constitutional grounds. They want it abolished entirely opening the state up to the same freedoms enjoyed by the majority of the nation.

One thing we know for certain is that California’s anti-gun citizen control cultists will not give up easily, and their representatives in government will fight against the liberty of their citizens every step of the way.

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Once again, I would encourage Glock,  Smith & Wesson, Sturm, Ruger & Co., and other gun companies to boycott sales of all firearms to California Government agencies that are unconstitutionally denied to California’s law-abiding citizens. What applies to California’s citizens should apply to California’s government as well.

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