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Panel Reverses Axing of Action Against L.A. County
By a MetNews Staff Writer
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday reversed a judgment on the pleadings awarded to the County of Los Angeles in a challenge to an order closing gun stores in light of the COVID pandemic.
Reversal of a judgment by Superior Court Judge Andre Birotte Jr. of the Central District of California came in a memorandum opinion by Judges Lawrence VanDyke and Ryan D. Nelson who declared that the decision is based on the holding in a precedential decision rendered yesterday in McDougall v. County of Ventura. Senior Judge Andrew J. Kleinfeld said he concurred in the result for the reasons set forth in his concurring opinion in that case.
The memorandum opinion says:
“On the merits, the Los Angeles County Orders (Orders) both burdened conduct protected by the Second .Amendment and fail strict and intermediate scrutiny….While the 11-day mandated closure at issue here is shorter than the 48-day closure at issue in McDougall, 11 days instantly becomes 21 days when adding California’s 10-day waiting period for acquiring firearms….Moreover, an 11-day total ban on law-abiding citizens’ ability to practice with firearms at firing ranges or acquire firearms and ammunitions at all—which the Orders clearly indicated could be perpetually extended if the County so decided—severely burdens the core of the Second Amendment right at a time of crisis, precisely when the need to exercise that right becomes most acute.”
The case is Martinez v. Villanueva, 20-56233.
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