San Francisco Loses Appeal on Gun Ban

The City of San Francisco has lost its appeal to get its gun ban reinstated.

In today’s 3-0 ruling, the appeals court cited its own 1982 decision overturning a San Francisco ordinance that prohibited handgun possession within city limits.

Sponsors of Prop. H had hoped to comply with that ruling by drafting a narrower measure that applied only to San Francisco residents. But the court said the 1982 decision properly interpreted state law as “depriving local entities of any power to regulate handgun possession on private property.”

The court declined San Francisco’s request to allow the city to enforce the ban on the manufacture or sale of rifles and shotguns, saying the city must first rewrite the ordinance to narrow its scope.

Noting the existence of state gun laws, Presiding Justice Ignazio Ruvolo said, “When it comes to regulating firearms, local governments are well advised to tread lightly.”

Take that hippies! It would seem preemption, at least, is alive and well in The Golden State.

UPDATE: NRA has their press release.

UPDATE: The decision can be found here.  The original San Francisco Superior Court case can be found here.

— Welcome Instapundit Readers —

Thanks for stopping by.  If you’re interested in second amendment issues, you’ve found the right place.  2008 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for us in the gun blogosphere, so I hope you’ll have a look around, and visit some of the fine gun blogs on the blogroll to your right.

4 thoughts on “San Francisco Loses Appeal on Gun Ban”

  1. First time to drop by. I am glad to see you are stepping up on gun rights. Hang in there.

  2. Lived in the Bay area for five years. Left after my first child was born. Needed an adult city and state for my child to grow up. San Francisco’ s population is proof positive that growing old is mandatory but maturing is optional.

  3. Time to get my new Glock 10mm, I will see what happens now when I try to puchase in a nreaby city since I live in SF. We have enough crime here already, the last thing we need is a “gun free” city for only the legal people.
    thanks for the news!
    Greg

  4. Greg, dude-

    Wait for that Taurus OSS model to come out. That is some gun.

Comments are closed.