DOJ Turns Up Heat On California After Judge Blocks Glock Ban

Attorneys with the Justice Department filed a notice with a federal judge in California Wednesday citing a ruling that blocked a Glock ban in Connecticut.

The DOJ filed suit in federal court to invalidate California’s “Unsafe Handgun Act” and Glock ban in July after Democratic California Attorney General Rob Bonta refused to discuss a possible settlement with Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon, arguing the measures violated the Second Amendment rights of the state’s residents. After a federal judge in Connecticut placed a similar ban on Glocks on ice, attorneys with the Civil Rights Division’s Second Amendment Section updated United States District Judge Monica Ramirez Almadani of the Central District of California, a Biden appointee, about the situation.

“This decision is relevant to the pending Motion for Preliminary Injunction by Plaintiff in this case as it demonstrates that a sister federal district court has reviewed and granted a motion for preliminary injunction to enjoin the enforcement of a statute that bans the sale of handguns with cruciform trigger bars (commonly known as Glock bans),” the DOJ filing says. “The court first analyzed whether the plaintiffs would be likely to succeed on the merits of their claims, and concluded that they would because Glock bans are presumptively unconstitutional under Bruen step one and there was no historical analogue to rebut that presumption.”

In a notice provided to Judge Almadani Tuesday, California said it had approved a version of the Glock 43.