A 95-year-old California law prohibiting gun shops from displaying handguns or handgun ads in shop windows violates freedom of speech, a federal judge has ruled.
State lawyers contended the law removes an inducement for people with suicidal impulses, or impulses to commit crimes, from buying lethal weapons, But U.S. District Judge Troy Nunley of Sacramento noted on Tuesday hat the shops were selling a legal product and said the state had failed to show that the ban was either effective or necessary to promote public safety.
“The Supreme Court has rejected this highly paternalistic approach to limiting speech,” Nunley said. He said the state cannot restrict commercial speech that persuades adults, who are neither criminals nor mentally ill, to buy a legal product “merely because it distrusts their personality trait and the decisions that personality trait may lead them to make later down the road.”
He also said California has other laws that serve the goals of reducing suicides and gun crimes without restricting speech, particularly a 10-day waiting period to buy a gun, a time that allows the state to perform background checks and gives the buyer a chance for second thoughts. The state also allows only one handgun purchase every 30 days and requires the buyer to pass a test on gun safety.
The Calguns Foundation, which opposes gun restrictions, praised the ruling and noted that Nunley had been appointed to the bench by President Barack Obama.
“People have a fundamental, individual right to buy handguns and licensed dealers have a right to tell people where they can lawfully acquire those handguns,” the foundation said. “Today’s ruling means the government cannot prevent people, or gun dealers, from talking about constitutionally protected instruments and conduct.”
Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s office, which defended the law in court, said it was reviewing the ruling.
The law, enacted in 1923, prohibits displaying a handgun, a picture of a handgun, or a “placard advertising the sale or other transfer” of a handgun, in any part of a store that can be seen from the outside. It was challenged by several Central Valley gun dealers who were cited for displaying handgun-shaped signs in their windows or on their buildings and faced possible loss of their licenses.
In Tuesday’s ruling, Nunley noted that the law would not prohibit gun dealers from displaying neon signs reading “GUNS GUNS GUNS” or a 15-foot picture of a rifle — evidence, he said, that the ban on handgun displays would have little effect. He also said the state’s expert witnesses had failed to present evidence that a ban on handgun displays reduces either impulsive handgun purchases or gun violence.
The state could try to promote its goals through “an educational campaign focused on the dangers of handguns or the consequences of impulsive decision-making,” Nunley said. But “California may not accomplish its goals by violating the First Amendment.”
Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko