Trump’s Doj Challenges California’s Glock Ban, Threatens More Action On Guns

SACRAMENTO, California — The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit Wednesday against California’s recently-enacted ban on Glock-style firearm sales, with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche threatening future suits following last week’s Supreme Court ruling striking down limits on carrying guns into private businesses.

The DOJ’s challenge to the Glock ban also seeks to prevent the state from enforcing a roster limiting what firearms people can purchase. Both laws, the DOJ alleges, violate the Second Amendment.

“The Second Amendment is a sacred right belonging to all Americans, even those in California. California cannot ban the most popular type of handgun in America,” Blanche said in a statement.

Blanche at an unrelated news conference on Wednesday threatened to sue California and other states that continue to enforce laws banning handgun possession on private property without owner consent — the Supreme Court struck down a similar Hawaii law last week.

“If we have to sue them, of course we will, and they should be sued,” Blanche said.

Blanche also pushed back on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s characterization of a DOJ probe into him and his wife as politically motivated because he is considering a presidential run, saying of Newsom, “I’m not sure his words are in any way grounded in fact.”

“He'd have to address that, but to the extent there's investigations that are ongoing, I will not talk about them, either,” Blanche added. “ He can choose to say whatever he thinks helps him, it doesn't make it true.”

Newsom’s administration has backed some of the most stringent gun laws in the nation. Past measures have included raising the age for purchasing firearms, tax gun and ammunition sales, and making it easier to bar people who pose a risk of violence from owning guns.

The governor on Wednesday blasted the federal challenge against the California ban, arguing that California’s gun safety laws save lives, while a spokesperson for California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the office would defend the state’s gun safety legislation.

“California’s gun safety laws helped drive firearm death rates to record lows in our state and are a blueprint for reducing gun violence nationwide,” the spokesperson wrote in a statement to POLITICO. “We will review the complaint and respond as appropriate in court.”

Newsom has lashed out at court decisions that curb California’s laws, at one point excoriating a judge who overturned an assault weapons ban as a “wholly-owned subsidiary of the gun lobby.”

But California has gotten creative in the face of legal setbacks, testing the limits of state authority with measures like a since-overruled law sharply limiting peoples' ability to openly carry firearms in public. Newsom pushed a law that allowed private citizens to sue manufacturers of illegal guns, emulating a Texas measure permitting lawsuits against abortion providers.

“California won’t back down in the face of threats from Donald Trump and the NRA,” said Democratic Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, who last year carried the legislation banning Glock-style firearm sales. “As a parent and lawmaker, I refuse to stand idly by while our schools and communities are being threatened by illegal gun violence. California is proud to be a national leader in enacting commonsense gun safety laws, and we will defend these life-saving laws from those who prioritize gun industry profits over the safety of our communities.”

Jeremy B. White and Nicole Norman contributed to this report.