Justice Kennedy Denies Emergency Motion to Block Gun Control Law

Second Amendment advocates hoping for promising news from the
U.S. Supreme Court will have to wait a little longer. Last night
Justice Anthony Kennedy denied an
emergency motion from a group of California gun owners seeking
to block the implementation of their city’s ban on high-capacity
magazines.

At issue in the case of Fyock v. City of Sunnyvale is
that municipality’s 2013 prohibition on the possession of magazines
that hold more than 10 rounds. The plaintiffs in the case charge
the city with violating their constitutional rights, and therefore
moved to have the law put on hold while they seek to vindicate
those rights in federal court. But a federal district judge took a
different view last week, refusing to the block the law
because “the right to possess magazines having a capacity to
accept more than ten rounds lies on the periphery of the Second
Amendment right, and proscribing such magazines is, at bare
minimum, substantially related to an important government
interest.” On appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
likewise refused to stop the law.

Justice Anthony Kennedy has now reached the same conclusion.
Sunnyvale’s ban on high-capacity magazines will go into effect as
the legal challenge against it proceeds in court.