NRA-ILA Scores Injunction Preventing Enforcement of CA Youth Firearms-Advertising Restriction

Fairfax, Virginia – April 12, 2024…Today, NRA-ILA announced a significant legal victory protecting First Amendment and firearm-related rights, as a California district court preliminarily enjoined enforcement of California’s severe restrictions on the marketing of firearm-related products in the NRA-ILA-supported case, Safari Club International v. Bonta.

California Business & Professions Code § 22949.80 forbids the advertising of any “firearm-related product in a manner that is designed, intended, or reasonably appears to be attractive to minors.” On August 5, 2022, the plaintiffs—So Cal Top Guns, Inc., Safari Club International, The United States Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation, and Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation—challenged the law, arguing that it “unconstitutionally regulate[s] firearm industry members’ First Amendment right to engage in truthful marketing and advertising concerning lawful products and services.”

The district court previously denied the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction, but on September 22, 2023, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the district court’s decision. Today, the district court, consistent with the Ninth Circuit’s ruling, entered an order preliminarily enjoining “California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the California Department of Justice, their officers, agents, servants, employees, and anyone else in active concert or participation with any of the aforementioned people or entities” from “enforcing California Business & Professions Code § 22949.80.”

While the injunction is in place, marketers of firearm-related products can advertise free of § 22949.80’s restrictions, while NRA-ILA continues to fight for their First Amendment and firearm-related rights.

NRA-ILA thanks Snell & Wilmer for their representation and success in this case.