DOJ Threatens Lawsuit Over California Glock Ban

California’s latest gun law hasn’t even taken effect, and the U.S. Department of Justice is already threatening to sue over it.

According to Washington Gun Law President William Kirk, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon has sent a blunt letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta warning that if Assembly Bill 1127 (the law critics have dubbed California’s “Glock ban”) goes into effect on July 1, the federal government will file suit.

The reason? The DOJ says the law violates the Second Amendment.

Beginning July 1, California firearm dealers will no longer be able to sell many of the most common semi-automatic pistols, including virtually all Glock and Glock-style handguns, according to the DOJ letter discussed by Kirk.

In the letter, Dhillon reminds California that the Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized handguns as the firearm “chosen by Americans for self-defense.”

“Because handguns are the most popular weapon chosen by Americans for self-defense, a prohibition of their use is invalid,” the letter states.

The threatened lawsuit doesn’t stop with Assembly Bill 1127.

According to Kirk, the DOJ also plans to challenge California’s controversial handgun roster, arguing it has denied Californians access to modern handguns for years.

Dhillon’s letter points to California’s previous microstamping requirements, which effectively froze the handgun roster for roughly a decade.

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The letter also cites the federal court decision in Boland v. Bonta, where the court concluded Californians have a constitutional right to acquire modern handguns rather than being forced to rely on decade-old models.

The DOJ isn’t immediately heading to court. Instead, the letter gives California until the close of business on June 30 to negotiate. To avoid litigation, the DOJ says California would need to:

• Stop enforcing the challenged laws.
• Acknowledge they are unconstitutional.
• Agree to a court-enforceable consent decree preventing similar constitutional violations in the future.

Given California’s long-running defense of its firearm regulations, Kirk said he fully expects state officials to reject the offer. If that happens, he predicts the lawsuit will be filed on July 1.

California has spent years defending some of the nation’s strictest gun laws, many of which have been challenged after the Supreme Court’s landmark Bruen decision.

If the DOJ follows through, this case could become one of the highest-profile Second Amendment lawsuits filed by the federal government in years.

And this time, it won’t be a gun-rights organization taking California to court. It will be the United States Department of Justice.

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