California is marching to their very own unconstitutional beat, as they have for decades. Once the home of the Gipper, California has been drowned out by socialists seeking to control every element of peoples’ lives. The law that Newsom signed shifts the financial burden when challenging one of California’s unconstitutional gun related laws. That burden, should they not be victorious on all points of their challenge, gets placed on the challenger, and was designed to chill the People from trying to defend their civil liberties. On paper this is wholly unconstitutional and even the biggest goose steppers of them all on the left coast must know it, with even more promise when the Attorney General of California notes the law is indefensible. According to the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), a joint consolidated response to Governor Newsom and Attorney General Bonta has been filed.

Attorneys representing the Second Amendment Foundation and its partners in a challenge of California’s fee-shifting law have filed a consolidated response to court briefs filed by Attorney General Rob Bonta and Gov. Gavin Newsom.

California’s new law includes a one-way fee-shifting penalty to discourage lawsuits against restrictive gun laws, creating a chilling effect on the ability to challenge unconstitutional laws that restrict individual rights and freedoms.

As noted before, Attorney General Bonta does not even feel the measure is defendable and because of that Newsom has pledged support from his office in trying to defend this muck.

This is the case in which Newsom has intervened with his own attorneys because Bonta recently stepped away from defending the California statute because it is based on a Texas law, known as S.B. 8, which Bonta has already asserted is unconstitutional. The Texas statute deals with abortion. Newsom and state lawmakers created Section 1021.11 in the California statute and admit it was in retaliation against the Texas law.

As noted in the brief, “By intervening here, the Governor has thus offered further proof that Section 1021.11 is an act of political retribution that he intends to follow through on, at the expense of California citizens’ fundamental rights, if S.B. 8 is upheld. Meanwhile, he has failed to offer any colorable argument that Section 1021.11 is constitutional. It is not. The Court should declare Section 1021.11 unconstitutional and permanently enjoin all Defendants from enforcing it.”

Representing SAF and its partners are attorneys Bradley A. Benbrook at the Benbrook Law Group, PC and David H. Thompson at Cooper & Kirk, PLLC. SAF is joined in this case by the San Diego County Gun Owners Political Action Committee, California Gun Rights Foundation, Firearms Policy Coalition, Inc., John W. Dillon, Dillon Law Group, P.C., George M. Lee, Gunfighter Tactical, LLC, John Phillips, PWGG, L.P., Ryan Peterson and James Miller.

In the end, or at least in the interim, the joke is going to be on Newsom. It’s not exactly known how the 9th will handle this case, with the case undoubtedly being appealed to that level regardless of the outcome in the lower courts, Newsom and his cronies have a serious roadblock to navigate around. According to the SAF, the brief was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California and is being heard by District Judge “Saint” Roger T. Benitez.

The founder and Executive Vice President of the SAF, Alan Gottlieb, noted “If it weren’t for the serious nature of the law, which seeks to penalize and discourage legal challenges to California gun control laws by essentially forcing plaintiffs and their attorneys to pay all legal costs, we would say their arguments are just getting nuttier. But this is a serious matter, designed to squelch legitimate challenges to California’s increasingly restrictive and constitutionally-questionable firearms regulations.”

The battle in California and the rest of the hammer and sickle wielding left cost will continue on. Getting this law out of the way is important so that the fight can continue without the threat of financial ruin. We’ll be watching the progress of this case closely and hopefully report back soon with some good news delivered from the gavel of Saint Benitez.