California Law Requiring Background Check to Buy Ammunition Restored by Federal Court

Law requires a background check for every ammunition purchase.

Ammunition in a store in California in a file illustration. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

A California law requiring people undergo a background check to purchase ammunition can be in effect while a legal challenge to the law is considered by the courts, federal judges ruled on Feb. 5.

A divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit stayed an injunction against the law that was entered days earlier by U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez, who ruled the law clashed with the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment.