Yesterday's ruling by a right-wing Federal District Judge striking down California's long-time ban on assault weapons is a poster child for rabid right-wing political rulings. Judge Roger Benitez, a Cuban-born Dumbya Bush appointee, decorated his ruling with inane statements, as reported below:
"'Like the Swiss Army Knife, the popular AR-15 rifle is a perfect combination of home defense weapon and homeland defense equipment,' he wrote in Friday's decision.
'Yet, the State of California makes it a crime to have an AR15 type rifle,' Benitez continued. 'Therefore, this Court declares the California statutes to be unconstitutional.'
He praised the AR-15 as a rifle that should be formally protected by the law for its 'militia readiness.'" (our emphasis)
Swiss Army Knife = AR-15 = homeland defense equipment. Got it. The reference to "militia readiness" is disturbing coming from a sitting Federal judge, given the role of violent right-wing militias like the lawless Oath Keepers as threats to our democracy over the past several years. Also, what ever happened to the important qualifying phrase in the Second Amendment "A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State...."? (emphasis added) Unhinged gun humpers waving AR-15s are hardly a "well-regulated Militia," except in their own paranoid minds.
Benitez tried to portray military-style assault rifles as being as common as could be in his opinion (copy here):
"This case is not about extraordinary weapons lying at the outer limits of Second Amendment protection. The banned 'assault weapons' are not bazookas, howitzers, or machineguns. Those arms are dangerous and solely useful for military purposes. Instead, the firearms deemed 'assault weapons' are fairly ordinary, popular, modern rifles. This is an average case about average guns used in average ways for average purposes." (our emphasis)
"Average guns used in average ways for average purposes." Let that bit of NRA-style insanity roll around in your mind. These "average guns" are used in the majority of mass killings by distinctly un-average psychopaths. Although Benitez tries to hedge his radical ruling by excluding bazookas, etc. from his ruling, that'll be the next threshold for right-wing militias: they need weapons like howitzers and machine guns for "homeland defense equipment."
California will challenge the ruling in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which used to be a reliably progressive court, but with the "former guy's" appointments no longer has that leaning. Which ever way the Ninth Circuit rules, the case is headed for the Supreme Court, and that's ominous to say the least. Elections -- all elections -- matter.
BONUS:
This is the same judge who blocked the California law that would’ve outlawed the high-capacity magazine used in the Thousand Oaks shooting. https://t.co/D0l6YnmGJB https://t.co/RqtVv8KtEP
— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) June 5, 2021
