‘It’s An Abomination:’ Judge Throws Out California Gun Law Designed To Challenge Texas Abortion Law

 California Governor Gavin Newsom thanked federal Judge Roger Benitez for throwing out a controversial gun law allowing private citizens to sue manufacturers of illegal guns, setting up a potential legal battle over a Texas abortion law with similar provisions.

Texas bill SB8 was passed by the state’s legislature in May 2021 and went into effect the following September, allowing private citizens in any state to file a civil suit against abortion providers who perform an abortion after six weeks. California SB 1327 was signed by Newsom in July and allowed citizens of California to sue manufacturers of illegal weapons.

Newsom issued a statement Monday after Benitez struck down the law in the Southern District Court of California, thanking the judge for the decision, calling the Texas law “unconstitutional.”

We have been saying all along that Texas’ anti-abortion law is outrageous,” Newsom stated. “The provision in California’s law that he struck down is a replica of what Texas did, and his explanation of why this part of SB 1327 unfairly blocks access to the courts applies equally to Texas’ SB 8. There is no longer any doubt that Texas’ cruel anti-abortion law should also be struck down.”

Abortion rights activists cheer after the US Supreme Court struck down a Texas law placing restrictions on abortion clinics, outside of the Supreme Court on June 27, 2016, in Washington, DC.
In a case with far-reaching implications for millions of women across the United States, the court ruled 5-3 to strike down measures that activists say have forced more than half of Texas’s abortion clinics to close. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

A lawsuit that utilized SB 8 against a Texas doctor was recently dismissed after a judge ruled the case had a lack of standing. Dr. Alan Braid had performed an abortion beyond the six-week cutoff point to provoke a lawsuit in the hopes that a judge would strike it down as unconstitutional.

Benitez noted the connection between the two bills in his opinion late last week, according to Politico.

“It is cynical. It is an abomination…It is outrageous and objectionable…There is no dispute that it raises serious constitutional questions,” Benitez wrote regarding the Texas law.