The U.S. Department of Justice and a coalition of 25 states have each filed amicus briefs in Rhode v. Bonta, a case backed by the National Rifle Association and California Rifle and Pistol Association challenging California’s ammunition background check requirement and anti-importation laws.
California law requires a background check for every ammunition purchase and mandates that all ammunition sales to California residents occur through face-to-face transactions with a seller licensed in California.
On January 30, 2024, the district court struck down these requirements as violations of the Second Amendment. The State appealed, but on July 24, 2025, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s ruling and entered a permanent injunction barring enforcement of the laws. Applying the text-and-history test set forth in the NRA’s landmark Supreme Court victory, NYSRPA v. Bruen, the panel held that the ammunition restrictions burden conduct covered by the Second Amendment’s plain text and lack any historical analogue.
California petitioned for rehearing en banc on August 7, 2025. The Ninth Circuit granted the petition on December 1, 2025, and scheduled en banc oral arguments for the week of March 23, 2026.
Yesterday, the U.S. DOJ and the 25-state coalition each filed amicus briefs arguing that the ammunition restrictions violate the Second Amendment.
The DOJ’s brief asserts that the laws establishing the background check requirement “do not pass even the ‘laugh test,’” because they “evoke[] a convoluted board game, not a serious attempt to further a legitimate purpose.” The regulation is “designed to burden the exercise of the right to bear arms,” the DOJ argues, and “a firearms regulation that seeks to frustrate the exercise of the right to keep and bear arms is a per se violation of the Second Amendment.”
The State coalition’s brief contends that both the background check and anti-importation requirements violate the Second Amendment. Both restrictions “burden the fundamental right to armed self-defense by interfering with ammunition purchases,” the coalition emphasizes, “and both are unprecedented in our Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”
The brief was filed by Ohio, Idaho, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming, and the Arizona Legislature.
Please stay tuned to www.nraila.org for future updates on NRA-ILA’s ongoing efforts to defend your constitutional rights, and please visit www.nraila.org/litigation to keep up to date on NRA-ILA’s ongoing litigation efforts.
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