The Second Amendment Foundation has filed a federal lawsuit in California contesting the state’s statute mandating weapons dealers to video record all transactions, claiming that it violates the rights guaranteed by the First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments.
Section 26806 of the California Penal Code is in question. The California Rifle & Pistol Association, Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners of California, the Gun Owners Foundation, On Target Indoor Shooting Range, Gaalswyk Enterprises, and three private persons are among those who have joined SAF. C.D. Michel and Tiffany D. Cheufront of Michel & Associates in Long Beach and Donald Kilmer of Kilmer Law Office in Idaho represent them.
In their official positions, California Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Robert Bonta, as well as several unidentified officials, are named as defendants. The complaint was filed in the Central District of California of the United States District Court. Richards v. Newsom is the name of the lawsuit.
“Requiring firearms retailers to video record their transactions is not only an egregious violation of privacy,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb, “it involves an expense that is both cost-prohibitive, and could literally drive small dealers out of business.
Furthermore, such transactions would be hard to record at gun shows because dealers are essentially vendors working in a huge venue where such equipment would be impractical to place.”
“The state is imposing Orwellian tactics to literally view and overhear private conversations of anyone who walks into a gun shop or visits a gun show, or the home of a residence-based licensed firearms dealer,” noted SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut. “That is a violation of privacy to which no person exercising any other civil right would ever be subjected.”
The plaintiffs seek a preliminary and permanent injunction to prevent the implementation of California Penal Code Section 26806.
The Second Amendment Foundation filed a 14th lawsuit in 2023 to contest extreme gun control laws. The Second Amendment Foundation is currently involved in 57 active cases across the country.