NRA files amicus brief with Ninth Circuit over California billy club ban

NRA on June 14 filed an amicus brief with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in support of a challenge to California’s prohibition on the possession of billy clubs.

The brief argues that billy clubs are neither uniquely dangerous nor unusual. Clubs have existed for millennia, and billy clubs in particular have been known by name to Americans since at least the 1840s. But there were no prohibitions on club possession in the 18th or 19th centuries, and thus there is no historical tradition that supports California’s ban.

Any prohibition on bearable arms — whether firearms, billy clubs, or something else — must be supported by “history and tradition,” as the Supreme Court held in NYSRPA v. Bruen. NRA’s brief argues that California’s ban on billy clubs is unsupported by history and tradition and is therefore unconstitutional.

The case is Fouts v. Bonta. It is currently before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

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