Gun-Rights Groups Sue California Over Registration Failures That Could Result in Gun Owners Being Locked Up

'People who wanted to comply with the law simply couldn’t and now they face becoming criminals because they couldn’t do what the law requires'

Four gun-rights groups sued the state of California on Wednesday over the failed implementation of an online registration system they claim has left certain gun owners unable to comply with the state's new assault weapons restrictions through no fault of their own.

The Second Amendment Foundation, the Calguns Foundation, the Firearms Policy Coalition, and the Firearms Policy Foundationfiled suit alongside three California citizens against the California Department of Justice and Attorney General Xavier Becerra. They claim that California's online gun registration system, the California Firearms Application Reporting System, has not worked properly since its inception and did not work at all in the lead up to the registration deadline set for certain rifles. Further, they claim that the state was aware of the problems with the system.

"We're suing because California DOJ’s Firearms Application Reporting System (CFARS) broke down during the deadline week for people to register their firearms in accordance with new state laws," Alan Gottlieb, Second Amendment Foundation founder, said. "For a whole week the system was largely inaccessible. People who wanted to comply with the law simply couldn’t and now they face becoming criminals because they couldn’t do what the law requires."

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