California appeals ruling on rifles

California has appealed the decision of a federal judge to throw out the states' ban on assault weapons as top state officials vowed to defend gun laws to protect the people of the largest state in the country.

Federal Judge Roger Benitez of the Southern District of California said in a 94-page ruling on June 4 the ban violated the Second Amendment to the US Constitution. He called the ban "a failed experiment" that "has had no effect" in reducing mass shootings in the state.

For more than 30 years, California has banned ownership of assault weapons and the transfer of certain types of semi-automatic firearms, such as the AR-15 rifle, with detachable magazines.

In a news conference on Thursday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the state has appealed the judge's decision.

Governor Gavin Newsom, who joined Bonta at the news conference, said California's assault weapons ban "has saved lives".

"This ban was enacted after a shooting that took the lives of five schoolchildren and injured countless more, and my administration will do whatever it takes to continue protecting Californians and leading the nation in gun-safety laws. This is a fight California will never back down from, period,"Newsom said.

The judge compared AR-15 rifles to a Swiss army knife, saying they are "a perfect combination of home defense weapon and homeland defense equipment".

In California, murder by knife occurs seven times more often than murder by rifle, Benitez said. He issued a permanent injunction against enforcement of the law but stayed it for 30 days to give the state time to appeal.

Benitez's decision quickly drew a backlash from California officials and many gun control advocates in the state, who argued the law is needed to protect the safety of Californians.

California became the first US state to ban assault weapons in 1989. Others with assault weapons bans include New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland and Massachusetts.

David Liu, owner of Arcadia Firearm & Safety, told China Daily that the assault weapons ban has had no impact on mass shootings, because suspects could obtain the weapons through illegal means despite enactment of the ban. Instead, the ban makes it hard for law-abiding citizens to obtain guns to protect themselves.