The Wire · CalGunHub

Supreme Court Holds Over California Magazine Cap Petition as New Term Opens

Published October 5, 2026 · Updated October 12, 2026

The justices took no action on Duncan v. Bonta at the start of the term, leaving the challenge to the ten-round magazine limit pending alongside similar petitions.

Written by the CalGunHub desk from public reporting

Who this affects: For California gun owners, the delay means the state's limit on magazines holding more than ten rounds remains in effect under the Ninth Circuit's 2025 en banc judgment while the Supreme Court decides whether to hear the case. The petition could be granted, denied, or held further at future conferences, and its fate may depend on the outcome of two other cases the Court will hear in December 2026. No timeline for a decision has been announced, and the petition remained pending as of October 6, 2026, with the underlying judgment undisturbed. This is general information, not legal advice.

The Supreme Court opened its 2026-2027 term on October 5 without granting or denying review in Duncan v. Bonta, the challenge to California's limit on magazines that hold more than ten rounds.

The petition, No. 25-198, was filed August 15, 2025, and asks the Court to review an en banc decision the Ninth Circuit issued on March 20, 2025, upholding the magazine cap. It passed through the Court's June 30, 2026 clean-up conference without action, drew supplemental briefs on August 7 from the petitioners and August 11 from the state, and went to the justices for the September 28 long conference, according to Duke University's SCOTUS Gun Watch.

The August 7 filing pointed to the Third Circuit's July 17 en banc decision in Cheeseman v. Davenport, which struck down New Jersey's magazine and rifle restrictions, as fresh evidence of division among the courts of appeals.

When the Court issued orders on October 5, it denied dozens of other firearms-related petitions but said nothing about Duncan. The Court "punted on 9 cases from the Long Conference, which remain pending," according to the Duke Center for Firearms Law. Duncan was held over alongside Gator's Custom Guns v. Washington, No. 25-153, and National Association for Gun Rights v. Lamont, No. 25-421. The working assumption among trackers is that all three petitions are waiting on Viramontes v. Cook County and Grant v. Higgins, which are scheduled for argument on December 2, 2026.

New Jersey added its own petition on October 1 in the Cheeseman litigation, requesting that the justices hold it pending Viramontes. Meanwhile, the Ninth Circuit's en banc judgment upholding the magazine limit remains undisturbed, and the Duncan petition can be reconsidered at future conferences. One outlet covering the October 5 orders noted it had not independently confirmed the order list's treatment of the held petitions.

Informational only, not legal advice. Facts are attributed to the sources listed above.