Jan 9, 2008 12:18 pm US/Pacific
Appeals Court Overturns San Francisco Handgun Ban
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) ―
A San Francisco handgun ban approved by city voters in 2005 was overturned by a state appeals court Wednesday.
A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeal in San Francisco said the measure, known as Proposition H, conflicted with state laws regulating handguns.
The court ruled in a lawsuit filed by the National Rifle Association, four firearms rights groups and seven individuals to challenge the ban.
It upheld a similar ruling in which San Francisco Superior Court Judge James Warren found in 2006 that state laws pre-empted the local ban.
The measure, which never went into effect, would have barred almost all city residents from possessing handguns and prohibited all residents from selling, manufacturing or distributing the firearms within the city.
Exceptions would have been allowed for law enforcement officers and others such as security guards who need guns for professional purposes.
The measure was described to voters as being intended to address the serious problem of handgun violence in the city.
But appeals court Justice Ignazio Ruvolo wrote that the state laws were intended to balance the "interest of the general public to be protected from the criminal misuse of firearms" and the interest of "law-abiding citizens to purchase and use firearms to deter crime, to help police fight crime" and for hunting and recreation.
Ruvolo wrote for the court that "local governments are well advised to tread lightly" when regulating firearms.
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