Lawyers for Attorney General Xavier Becerra, facing another lawsuit from gun rights groups in San Diego federal court over firearms laws, are formally objecting to the case being heard by the same judge who twice before struck down state gun regulations.
In a document filed on Thursday, state lawyers opposed assigning the lawsuit to U.S. District Court Judge Roger Benitez. The suit was filed by more than a dozen individuals and groups including the San Diego County Gun Owners PAC, Firearms Policy Coalition, and the Second Amendment Foundation.
Benitez has issued rulings striking down the laws banning high capacity ammunition magazines and requiring background checks for people buying ammunition in the past two years. He is also now hearing two other cases from Second Amendment advocates, one dealing with the state’s assault weapons regulatory scheme and another on the ban on billy clubs and blackjacks.