The National Rifle Association filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the city of San Francisco, claiming that the city's ban on possession of gun magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds violates the constitutional right to bear arms.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, NRA lawyers filed the suit on behalf of the San Francisco Veteran Police Officers Association, as well as four individual gun owners. In the suit, the gun lobby argues that the ban on magazines holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition, signed by Mayor Ed Lee earlier this month, violates individuals' rights to bear arms for self-defense purposes.
"These magazines are typically possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes, including in-home self-defense," reads the lawsuit. "Limiting magazine capacity for law-abiding citizens to 10 rounds decreases public safety by giving violent criminals an advantage and thus decreasing the likelihood that a victim will survive a criminal attack."
The ban is currently set to go into effect on December 8. It does not apply to active law enforcement or armored-car personnel.
City Attorney Dennis Herrera vowed to fight the NRA's action.
"The U.S. Supreme Court—even in expanding the Second Amendment’s scope—has been unequivocal that state and local governments are constitutionally entitled to enact reasonable firearms regulations,” Herrera said, according to Bay City News. “I have faith that the federal judiciary will agree that San Francisco’s gun laws protect public safety in a manner that’s both reasonable and constitutional."
According to the Chronicle, the NRA also plans to fight a law passed in nearby Sunnyvale, Calif., where voters recently approved a similar magazine ban as well as several other gun control ordinances.
"What Sunnyvale is doing is confiscation by another name," NRA counsel Chuck Michel said earlier this month. "This goes further than other gun law in the country right now, and we're looking forward to challenging it."
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