California Handgun-Microstamping Law Upheld by Judge

California’s sales ban on new semiautomatic handguns that don’t stamp identifying information on the cartridge when a bullet is fired was upheld by a federal judge.

The law doesn’t violate the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment because gun owners don’t have a right to specific types of firearms, U.S. District Judge Kimberly Mueller in Sacramento said in her ruling.

“Plaintiffs insist they have the right to determine the precise way in which they would exercise their Second Amendment rights,” Mueller said. The insistence upon particular handguns falls “outside the scope of the right to bear arms,” she said.

California in 2013 became the first state to bar retailers from selling new models of semiautomatic handguns not equipped to imprint the weapon’s make, model and serial number on the cartridge when a bullet is fired. The statute was supported by law enforcement because it can help deter or solve crime.

About 1.5 million handguns were legally sold in California since opponents sued in 2009 to block the microstamping requirement.

Calguns Foundation Inc. and the Second Amendment Foundation argued that the requirement amounts to a de facto ban on sales of new semiautomatics because several manufacturers said they wouldn’t produce guns that included microstamp technology even if it meant their firearms couldn’t be sold in California, the most populous U.S. state.

The two gun rights groups said in a court filing Thursday that they will appeal the ruling from earlier that day. The case may go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which in 2008 upheld individuals’ right to own handguns, calling them the “quintessential self-defense weapon.”

The 2008 high court ruling left room for gun-control backers to impose new rules to promote safety. California, New York and Maryland, among other states, enacted restrictions that U.S. gun manufacturers and retailers contend are intended to regulate their $14 billion industry out of business.

The California law was signed in 2007 by then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, and was put on hold until 2013 when the state attorney general determined the technology was available to all gun makers, unencumbered of any patent claims.

Alan Gura, a lawyer representing the gun-rights advocates, didn’t immediately respond to phone and e-mail messages Friday seeking comment on the ruling.