Court blocks judge's decision to overturn California's assault weapons ban
22 June 2021
A federal appeals court on Monday blocked a judge's ruling that overturned California's 30-year assault weapons ban.
Driving the news: U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez ruled earlier this month that the ban was unconstitutional and likened the AR-15 to a Swiss Army knife, but the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has now granted a stay, pending appeal.
- This stay issued by the three-judge panel is "pending decisions in other gun cases that are now before the court," the Los Angeles Times notes.
Why it matters: California has one of the lowest firearm mortality rates in the U.S., and Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and Attorney General Rob Bonta cited this fact as proof that the state's law worked.
- Bonta, who filed the appeal against Benitez's ruling, welcomed the judges' decision in a statement issued to Twitter:
#BREAKING: The 9th Circuit granted our motion to stay the district court’s ruling in Miller v. Bonta.
— Rob Bonta (@AGRobBonta) June 21, 2021
This leaves our assault weapons laws in effect while appellate proceedings continue.
We won't stop defending these life-saving laws.https://t.co/L8F8zpLuhvpic.twitter.com/udtszNfOis
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.