Big Month for Gun Control Rulings: This Ninth Circuit Appellate Case Tackles Large-Capacity Magazines

The Second Amendment and Gun Control 

Ghost Guns and Large-Capacity Magazines 
By Robert Phillips, Deputy District Attorney (Ret).

The last half of March was a big month for gun control. As already reported in an article by Ray Hill, Legal Updates’ in-house Santa Rosa Junior College Professor Emeritus, the U.S. Supreme Court in a 7-2 decision held that “ghost guns” or “undetectable weapons” (build-it-yourself gun kits, mainly bought online, that include all the parts of a gun but are untraceable when assembled) are illegal unless embedded with a serial number (See Legal Updates reference # CAB10041) and (See Bondi v. Vanderstok [Mar. 26, 2025] 604 U.S. [2025 U.S. LEXIS 1280].)  

The case provides an interpretation of several federal statutes involving the importation, manufacturing or dealing in firearms, and, being from the U.S. Supreme Court, affects the entire nation.  

Less than a week earlier, an en banc (11-justice) panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rendered a decision concerning the legality of what are commonly referred to as “large-capacity magazines,” a magazine that holds more than 10 rounds of ....

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