SAN DIEGO (Legal Newsline) — California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the Director of the California Department of Justice Bureau of Firearms Luis Lopez are facing a lawsuit alleging First Amendment violations over the state's newly passed gun control law.
James Miler, Ryan Peterson, Gunfighter Tactical LLC., San Diego County Gun Owners PAC and others filed a complaint Sept. 26 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California against Bonta and Luis Lopez, Director of the California Department of Justice Bureau of Firearms, alleging First Amendment violations and other claims.
The plaintiffs allege in their complaint that Senate Bill 1327, signed into law on July 22, 2022 by California Governor Rick Newsom, is unconstitutional. Specifically, the plaintiffs claim that SB 1327 is a "radical effort to suppress firearms-related litigation."
They allege the law puts civil rights litigants and their attorneys "on the hook" for attorney's fees when the defendants in a firearms case is treated as the "prevailing party. They further allege that SB1327 enables government defendants to recover fees if a "firearms plaintiff" loses on any claim yet the plaintiffs can only avoid liability for fees "if it prevails on every claim in the case."
Among the plaintiffs' other claims is that SB 1327 "encourages state and local governments to push the constitutional envelope when crafting firearms regulations" and that the law threatens would-be plaintiffs who sue over the regulations with "a potentially ruinous fee award."
The plaintiffs seek declaratory judgements, monetary and all other just relief. They are represented by Bradley Benbrook of The Benbrook Law Group PC in Sacramento.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California case number 22CV1446RSHDEB