On the left coast, a new law that was recently passed required that all sales of handgun ammunition take place “face-to-face,” outlawing all internet sales. Also included was a requirement that sales records be kept as to the buyer, caliber and so forth. It was the holy grail of ammunition registration, a Chris Rock-esque scheme to make purchasing ammo as prohibitively expensive and onerous as possible. And on Wednesday, a California court threw the whole thing out the window . . .
The specific reason why the law was overturned isn’t because they were a violation of the Second Amendment (because what self respecting California judge would ever rule in favor of the 2A?). Instead the California Superior Court decision said the requirements were unconstitutionally vague. Thanks to the various pistol caliber carbines available as well as the pistol version of the AR-15 and the AK-47, it makes it impossible to actually define what a handgun caliber is.
The statutes were written in an intentionally vague manner (probably so that they could expand this law to all ammunition at some point), but the court was having none of it. They issued an immediate injunction and the ammo is now once again flowing freely (and legally) into the Golden State in little brown boxes straight to your doorstep.
Naturally this will upset many in California’s extensive civilian disarmament community and I expect a revised version of the law to be introduced almost immediately. But the ruling opens the door to overturning other vague laws such as the requirements for a concealed carry license. California is a “may issue” state, but their statute doesn’t specifically say what justification is required for the permit to be issued. This leads to issues where Los Angeles issues virtually no permits while other counties issue them freely. Look for that one to be up next on the judicial chopping block here shortly.