California Begins Confiscation while a Lone Judge Defends the Second Amendment * July 2017 *
As of July 1, 2017, a person who keeps a lawfully obtained, large-capacity magazine will be at risk of a fine and as much as one year in a county jail. Or, to quote judge Benitez, “On July 1, 2017, any previously law-abiding person in California who still possesses a firearm magazine capable of holding more than 10 rounds will begin their new life of crime.”
Attorneys for the National Rifle Assn. requested of U.S. District Judge Roger T. Benitez to issue a preliminary injunction that would block the recent law that would require Californians to dispose of their large-capacity ammunition magazines by Saturday July 1, 2017 or face fines and/or jail time.
“If this injunction does not issue, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of otherwise law-abiding citizens will have an untenable choice: become an outlaw or dispossess one’s self of lawfully acquired property,” Judge Benitez wrote. “That is a choice they should not have to make.”
A reporter at the Sacramento Bee had this to say: “Talk to gun owners, retailers and pro-gun sheriffs across California and you’ll get something akin to an eye roll when they’re asked if gun owners are going to voluntarily part with their property because Democratic politicians and voters who favor gun control outnumber them and changed the law.”