“There are challenges on California’s gun laws bubbling through the federal courts, which makes it possible but not likely we see a case this term,” said UCLA Law Professor Adam Winkler, who specializes in constitutional law and the Second Amendment. “But it won’t be long before the court finally takes another gun case.”
And when they do, California’s gun restrictions are endangered. National gun control groups fervently opposed Barrett’s confirmation, with Everytown for Gun Safety president John Feinblatt calling Barrett a “gun rights extremist who has no place on the Supreme Court.”
“If you want to know which laws could be struck down, just open the penal code and look at every law about guns,” said Winkler. “We’re at that level.”
California has gun laws ranging from online ammunition purchase restrictions to red flag laws, and Winkler believes the court could start the process of striking down gun control laws one-by-one.
When asked which laws he thinks could fall first, Winkler identified the state’s high-capacity magazine ban and individual cities’ restrictive conceal and carry laws as the most endangered. Winkler said that in other states, roughly 3-5% of citizens obtain conceal and carry permits. He then extrapolated these figures to Los Angeles County, which has a population of 10 million.
– Eric Ting in ‘It’s going to be earth-shattering’: What Amy Coney Barrett means for California Gun Laws