Bauer v. Becerra, No. 15-15428 (9th Cir. 2017)
Annotate this CasePlaintiffs filed suit challenging California Penal Code 28225 on Second Amendment grounds, alleging that California's allocation of $5 of a $19 fee on firearms transfers to fund enforcement efforts against illegal firearm purchasers was unconstitutional. The Ninth Circuit held that, even assuming the collection and use of the fee fell within the scope of the Second Amendment, the fee survived intermediate scrutiny because of the State's important interest in promoting public safety and disarming prohibited persons, and because there was a reasonable fit between these important objectives and the challenged fees. Because section 28225 did not violate the constitution, the panel affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment to the State.
Court Description: Civil Rights. The panel affirmed the district court’s summary judgment in favor of the State of California in an action challenging, on Second Amendment grounds, California Penal Code § 28225, which requires the allocation of $5 of a $19 fee on firearms transfers to fund enforcement efforts against illegal firearm purchasers through California’s Armed Prohibited Persons System. The panel held that the use of the fee to fund enforcement efforts survived intermediate scrutiny because the government has demonstrated an important public safety interest in this statutory scheme, and there was a reasonable fit between the government’s interest and the means it has chosen to achieve those ends. Accordingly, the district court did not err in concluding that the use of the fee to fund the California’s Armed Prohibited Persons System program, through California Penal Code § 28225, did not violate the Constitution. BAUER V. BECERRA 3
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