A case out of the Golden State reaffirms my belief that there are too many unconstitutional laws around the country to count, and that a lot of them are passed by irresponsible legislators with their fingers crossed, hoping that the bogus government restrictions will slip through the judicial net.
For example, did you know that a California law makes it a crime to simply possess or carry a billy club, which is basically a stick? That’s ridiculous, but there was such a law until it was struck down last week by a Judge Roger Benitez, a federal judge in San Diego, who ruled in Fouts v. Bonta that billy clubs are protected by the Second Amendment. Why wouldn’t they be? California really is estranged from basic American values and common sense. (The state’s billy club prohibition would make it illegal for a member of the LA Dodgers to walk to the stadium carrying his bat.) The core of the opinion is this:
This case is not about whether California can prohibit or restrict the use or possession of a billy for unlawful purposes…. Historically, the short wooden stick that police officers once carried on their beat was known as a billy or billy club. The term remains vague today and may encompass a metal baton, a little league bat, a wooden table leg, or a broken golf club shaft, all of which are weapons that could be used for self-defense but are less lethal than a firearm…not everybody wants to carry a firearm for self- defense. Some prefer less-lethal weapons. A billy is a less-lethal weapon that may be used for self-defense. It is a simple weapon that most anybody between the ages of eight and eighty can fashion from a wooden stick, or a clothes pole, or a dowel rod. One can easily imagine countless citizens carrying these weapons on daily walks and hikes to defend themselves against attacks by humans or animals. To give full life to the core right of self-defense, every law-abiding responsible individual citizen has a constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms like the billy for lawful purposes.
In early America and today, the Second Amendment right of self-preservation permits a citizen to “‘repel force by force’ when ‘the intervention of society in his behalf, may be too late to prevent that injury.’” The Founders of our country anticipated that as our nation matured circumstances might make the previous recognition of rights undesirable or inadequate. For that event, the Founders provided a built-in vehicle by which the Constitution could be amended, but a single state, no matter how well intended, may not do so, and neither can this court.
What other unconstitutional laws are lurking out there, unchallenged?
Ethics Alarms 
Jack wrote, “What other unconstitutional laws are lurking out there, unchallenged?”
California is throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks. If no one bothers to challenge it, then they’ve got their ban regardless of it being unconstitutional. That’s their modus operandi, they keep on destroying our culture one bastardization of the law at a time hoping that their opposition will just give up or the courts won’t have enough time to tackle the tidal wave of abuse.
We have to remember that our laws, including the constitution, are only as good as the people and institutions that are suppose to be supporting, defending and enforcing it.
They are illegal in NY. I guess nobody challenges some of these laws; so, they stay on the books. You can carry a collapsible baton in NY but not a Billy Club. Heck, until 2019 you couldn’t even carry a Taser and if you want pepper spray you have to go to a gun store because you can’t buy them at Walmart. I can just drive across the state line to PA and buy pepper spray at Walmart but I cannot get it shipped to me, that’s illegal in NY.
States enact these laws and unless someone with the resources to fight them takes action then they just remain on the law books.
It’s obvious to me that NY and other liberal controlled states don’t want you to defend yourself. If you have to take some kind of action in self defense you’re probably going to be charged with something and have to then defend yourself in court against numerous felony charges. You might as well let the perpetrator beat the snot out of you, hope they don’t kill you and then pay the medical bills.
NJ has pretty much the strictest gun and other weapon laws of any state, plus the duty to retreat except in your home. They want ordinary people to be essentially helpless.
until recently, my state had a law prohibiting “…brass or iron knuckles”.
A state judge upheld the conviction of some poor construction worker who had aluminium knuckles in his lunchbox as carrying a concealed weapon.
Didnt matter that AL is one fourth the density of the other materials. Didnt matter that the law explicitly called out the specific prohibited composition. Didnt matter that a pistol in the same box, even without apermit, is considered legal because the box is too large by the same law’s definition of concealable.
The only thing that mattered is it really wasn’t a “paperweight”.
I don’t know how much NYSRPA v. Bruen affected this law finally coming off the books, but this expansive enforcement of weapon law was very common. A couple years further, it was illegial to carry stun guns and tasers until a state court cited Heller and struck it down.
The problem is that Benitez seems to be the only judge in California willing to call out this type of law. It will be overturned on appeal (as all of Benitez’s rulings are) and go up to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has to become exclusively the Benitez review board, or most of these laws will be ruled Constitutional by the federal courts. For every Bruen ruling, 100 laws are passed that violate Bruen. For every law struck down by a district court judge, each one is reinstated by the appellate courts.
They do it because it works. They do it because they know the Supreme Court doesn’t have the desire or courage to stop them. They do it because probably 25% or less of the federal judges agree with ideals and principles of the Constitution.
The only way to stop this is for the Supreme Court to stop pussy footing around and say ‘Shall not be infringed’. They are going to have to admit that the power to regulate is the power to destroy and take away all the power to regulate the possession of weapons by Americans. The Supreme Court won’t do this, of course, so these laws get passed. The Constitution is meaningless if no one will stand up for it and the judiciary will not stand up for it because they don’t agree with it.
Being involved in shooting and living in California, I get to suffer the unconstitutional 2A laws on a daily basis. It boils down to two things: a democratic supermajority in the state, and a very liberal majority on the 9th Circuit panel. (If CA does not like the three-judge panel on review, it then asks for en banc review knowing that will get the desired result – strike down injunction, endlessly send back to lower court for further consideration, etc…) The legislature has figured out that they can pass any unconstitutional 2A law and it will evade being enjoined for years by the 9th Circuit. Since SCOTUS will not take up every case – like the clubs or micro stamping firing pins or whatever other ridiculous CA law – figuring Heller/Bruen should have been enough (and it should have been), CA can rest assured that it can maintain constant unconstitutional 2A laws by just having the next offensive law in place and ready to go as prior laws are very slowly struck down. Sadly, it has become a very obvious and nefarious process. When microstamping law is struck down, they’ll probably pass a law that all bullets in CA must have individual indestructible serial numbers that are registered to each person on purchase, or you can have guns, but you cannot have barrels. There’s probably a bill like that already in committee…