Federal Judge Moves Forward Suit Over California Gun Registration

A federal judge on Thursday refused to dismiss a lawsuit by California gun owners who claim they were unable to comply with the state’s latest registration law because the state’s internet-based registration system does not work properly.

Judge Morrison England Jr. said the state’s inability to maintain a working registration website leading up to the registration deadline violated procedural due process. England is a George W. Bush appointee for the Eastern District of California U.S. District Court. He argued that the state indicated the registration system would be available up until the deadline and was indifferent to failures of the system.

"While Defendants appear to blame the individual Plaintiffs for waiting until the last minute to attempt to register their firearms (seven waited until the last two days of the online registration period), the fact that Defendants' website used a dramatic ‘countdown clock' showing the number of weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds elapsing until the deadline at least arguably supported a belief that registrations could be both processed and accepted ‘until literally the last second of the registration period,'" Judge England wrote in his opinion. "Particularly when coupled with the documented systemic failures outlined above, the countdown clock also supports an inference of deliberate indifference."