SAN DIEGO, CA (October 10, 2022) – Today, Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) announced that it has filed a motion for preliminary injunction in Miller v. Bonta (Miller II), its lawsuit challenging the provisions in California SB 1327 that are designed to suppress and chill legitimate challenges to firearms regulations and were enacted as retribution for Texas’s SB 8 abortion law. The motion can be viewed at FPCLegal.org.
“On July 22, 2022, Governor Newsom signed into law Senate Bill 1327, which includes a one-way fee- shifting penalty in the government’s favor that applies only to litigation challenging state and local firearm regulations,” explains the motion. “In simple terms, Section 1021.11 enables government defendants to recover their attorney’s fees and costs if a firearms plaintiff loses on any claim in the case, while the plaintiff can only avoid liability for fees if it prevails on every claim in the case.”
“The constitutional violations have caused concrete harm to Plaintiffs here,” the motion goes on to argue. “Section 1021.11 has not only imposed a substantial potential cost on Plaintiffs for litigating Miller I, but it has caused several Plaintiffs to dismiss or refrain from bringing additional lawsuits challenging other California firearms regulations that they believe are unconstitutional.”
“The fee-shifting provision of SB 1327 is so transparently lopsided, partisan and unilateral that its intent can only be interpreted one way,” said FPC Director of Legal Operations Bill Sack. “And that is to immorally, unlawfully and unconstitutionally chill the challenging of gun control laws that Governor Newson and his cadre know are in serious danger in light of the Bruen decision.”
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Firearms Policy Coalition (firearmspolicy.org), a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization, exists to create a world of maximal human liberty, defend constitutional rights, advance individual liberty, and restore freedom. FPC’s efforts are focused on the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and adjacent issues including freedom of speech, due process, unlawful searches and seizures, separation of powers, asset forfeitures, privacy, encryption, and limited government. The FPC team are next-generation advocates working to achieve the Organization’s strategic objectives through litigation, research, scholarly publications, amicus briefing, legislative and regulatory action, grassroots activism, education, outreach, and other programs.
FPC Law (FPCLaw.org) is the nation’s first and largest public interest legal team focused on the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, and the leader in the Second Amendment litigation and research space.