by Becca Lower
The social media world is abuzz with talk about a federal court ruling Friday by a California judge which effectively overturns a decades-long ban on AR-15s in the Golden State. As RedState reported earlier,
On Friday United States District Court Judge Roger T. Benitez issued an opinion after a trial on the merits in a lawsuit brought by Firearms Policy Coalition, ruling Californiaâs ban unconstitutional and praising the AR-15.
In fact, his decision called it âa perfect combination of a home defense weapon and homeland defense equipment.â
Voices on the left were quick to seize on the judgeâs ruling, which ended the ban that was put in place in 1989, especially his analogy that mentioned Swiss Army knives, as CNNÂ reported:
âLike the Swiss Army Knife, the popular AR-15 rifle is a perfect combination of home defense weapon and homeland defense equipment,â Benitez said in the ruling. âFirearms deemed as âassault weaponsâ are fairly ordinary, popular, modern rifles.â
Memo to Judge Benitez: With all due respect, if you must render an idiotic pro-gun ruling without any legal foundation, you might at least TRY not to imitate an AR-15 salesman. â Laurence Tribehttps://t.co/rabu7Cj3dG
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) June 5, 2021
Itâs not all that surprising to find hot takes following news of the ruling, since leftists donât make it any secret that they believe they should be the ones to decide how Americans exercise their Second Amendment rights.
Some people in the legacy media and in Washington, D.C., probably didnât like being called out, either. The Benitez ruling included this gem, according to CNN:
âOne is to be forgiven if one is persuaded by news media and others that the nation is awash with murderous AR-15 assault rifles. The facts, however, do not support this hyperbole, and facts matter.â
Indeed, they do, sir. But this Entertainment Weekly and HuffPost âTV hostâ (whatever that means), seems to be fact-impaired:
Us Californians were doing just fine without AR-15âs on our streets. This ruling from Judge Benitez is ridiculous.
40k Americans a year die from guns. We need more gun control, not less!
— Heather Gardner (@heathergtv) June 5, 2021
Californiaâs doing just fine, everybody.
But that was just the beginning.
This Twitter user thought the judge should impeached â that is, canceled, for following the Constitution:
Californiaâs 32 year assault weapons ban has been overturned by a lunatic in judgeship named Roger Benitez who actually compared an AR-15 to a Swiss Army Knife, calling it a perfect home weapon.
This mass murder supporter should be impeached. Absolutely disgusting.
— Ricky Davila (@TheRickyDavila) June 5, 2021
Talk about hyperbole misuse:
This is by far, the stupidest decision by a judge in the history of juris prudence. If this decision is not overturned, there will be outrage across California. CA does not need AR-15s, the USA does not need AR-15s.
— Gary W. Fuller (@garywfuller) June 5, 2021
Here we have a blanket statement about legal gun owners thatâs truly dumb:
So John Povlovitz says that people that own AR -15s are no good people well this whole parade is POC if thatâs not a racist comment what is true colors no pun intended a self proclaimed humanitarian a Democrat in a caring honesty person clothing hereâs proof man they fling bull pic.twitter.com/nQw3lVUFNY
— Richard Kobierski (@RichardKobiers2) June 5, 2021
Even the stateâs governor took out time from his important, imperial pronouncements about the Chinese virus to call a judgeâs ruling a âdirect threat to public safety.â How he said it is straight out of every good authoritarianâs handbook: (emphasis mine)
Overturning CAâs assault weapon ban and comparing an AR-15 to a SWISS ARMY KNIFE is a disgusting slap in the face to those who have lost loved ones to gun violence.
This is a direct threat to public safety and innocent Californians. We wonât stand for it.
Overturning CAâs assault weapon ban and comparing an AR-15 to a SWISS ARMY KNIFE is a disgusting slap in the face to those who have lost loved ones to gun violence.
This is a direct threat to public safety and innocent Californians. We wonât stand for it. https://t.co/feL5BABTXa
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 5, 2021
And Speaker Pelosi (D-California) had something to add, as she always seems to â whether she knows what sheâs talking about or not (take note of its cookie-cutter wording like Newsomâs):
This deeply flawed ruling reverses 30-year commonsense protections that keep deadly weapons off our streets & keep our communities safe. If upheld, it poses a clear & serious threat to public safety & innocent lives. House-passed gun violence prevention bills must be enacted now.
This deeply flawed ruling reverses 30-year commonsense protections that keep deadly weapons off our streets & keep our communities safe. If upheld, it poses a clear & serious threat to public safety & innocent lives. House-passed gun violence prevention bills must be enacted now. https://t.co/5o9m399F9g
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) June 5, 2021
Townhall.comâs Kurt Schlichter pointed out that the internet is missing a crucial meme on this:
I need one of those sweating superhero considering 2 buttons memes…
Button 1: AR15s are deadly weapons of war!
Button 2: AR15s are useless in a war against leftist tyranny!
— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) June 5, 2021
Exactly. This is about more than just one ruling in California and one judge. My colleague Nick Arama wrote about the Senate hearing just over a week ago, in which Texas Sen. Ted Cruz got Biden ATF nominee David Chipman to admit what the Left tries to keep hidden in plain sight: they want to take our guns â no doubt about it.