WASHINGTON (CN) — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan refused Friday to pause California’s prohibition on firearm sales at gun shows hosted on public property.
Kagan, a Barack Obama appointee, denied an emergency application from B&L Productions, a gun show operator, which claimed that the Golden State had effectively banned firearm exhibitions, infringing companies’ commercial speech and censoring expressive conduct.
“The business model of gun shows is a case study in exercising rights under the First and Second Amendments, and the operative complaint contains ample, legally sufficient allegations of California’s animus toward Applicants and their activities,” the show operator wrote.
Gun show operators typically use the “private sale exemption” to skirt firearm regulations like background checks. California outlawed the so-called “gun show loophole,” by prohibiting gun sales on any state-owned property.
Kagan rejected B&L’s emergency application two days after it was filed and without asking for California’s response. She did not explain her order.
B&L puts on shows at county fairgrounds across San Diego and Orange counties, including Del Mar Fairgrounds. Since 2023, the show operator hasn’t scheduled any shows at state-owned properties.
“Although the challenged statutes do not expressly ‘ban’ gun shows, that is their stated goal,” B&L wrote.
The show operator said California lawmakers excluded firearm exhibitions from the public square because they objected to law-abiding gun culture.
The court’s assessment of B&L’s challenge was mixed. U.S. District Judge Anthony Battaglia dismissed their case in March 2023, but U.S. District Judge Mark Holcomb agreed to block the law later that year. California prevailed at the Ninth Circuit, however, keeping the law on the books.
B&L said the appeals court was infected with “the mind virus demonizing gun culture.” The showrunner said the sales ban prevents gun enthusiasts from congregating and conducting commerce on public land.
The company told the justices that emergency intervention was necessary to force courts to follow the conservative supermajority’s landmark Second Amendment case, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen.
“The court should exercise its supervisory power now and end the lower courts’ departure from the ‘usual course of judicial proceedings’ by ignoring this court’s clear commands,” B&L wrote.
B&L can petition another justice for review, which then could be advanced to the full court.