9TH CIRCUIT PANEL REJECTS ANTI-GUN LAWSUIT; PLAINTIFFS LACKED STANDING
BELLEVUE, WA – BELLEVUE, WA – The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms congratulates the three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for unanimously rejecting a lawsuit by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the Giffords Law Center (GLC) against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) because they lacked standing as plaintiffs.
The 18-page decision, authored by Circuit Judge Consuelo M. Callahan, a George W. Bush appointee, observed, “Although California and GLC expended resources to combat the spread and use of ghost guns after enactment of the Final Rule, those expenditures were based on their predictions…But we cannot ‘endorse standing theories that rest on speculation about the decisions of independent actors . . . particularly speculation about future unlawful conduct.”
Bonta and the GLC were demanding that ATF adopt tougher regulations on so-called “ghost guns.” But CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb scoffed at the notion, stating, “The gun prohibition lobby and politicians like Bonta are using so-called ‘ghost guns’ as the new bogeyman of American gun politics.”
Gottlieb pointed to language in Judge Callahan’s ruling which added the proper perspective to this case.
“You can’t litigate based on speculation about possible future unlawful conduct,” Gottlieb observed, “and Judge Callahan was pretty clear about it. Thankfully, the justice system hasn’t gotten to the point of acting on speculation. After all, this isn’t make believe and we live in the real world, not one where litigation is based on science fiction.
“The most significant aspect about the decision,” he added, “is that it came from the notoriously liberal Ninth Circuit. Historically, such rulings wind up before an en banc panel, which could happen here, but for the moment, Bonta, the Giffords group and all the anti-gun state attorneys general submitting amicus briefs are on the losing side, which is where they belong.”
