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Duncan v. Bonta cert petition filed at U.S. Supreme Court

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Plaintiffs asked the Supreme Court to review California's large-capacity magazine ban on Second Amendment and Takings Clause grounds.

Written by the CalGunHub desk from public reporting

Who this affects: The petition seeks review of the ruling that keeps California's magazine restrictions enforceable statewide. Until the Supreme Court acts, the Ninth Circuit's en banc judgment governs. A related magazine-case petition, Gator's Custom Guns v. Washington (No. 25-153), is also on the Court's docket, per the cited sources. This is general information, not legal advice.

On August 15, 2025, the plaintiffs in Duncan v. Bonta petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari, docketed as No. 25-198. According to the petition and the Court's public docket, the questions presented ask whether California's ban on possession of large-capacity magazines violates the Second Amendment and whether the law's dispossession requirement violates the Takings Clause. The petition follows the Ninth Circuit's March 20, 2025 en banc decision upholding the ban 7-4. According to the SCOTUSblog docket and the Duke Firearms Law Center, the petition was repeatedly distributed for conference through June 2026 and carried into the October 2026 Term, and the most recent activity is a supplemental brief filed August 3, 2026. Sources tracking the case note that the D.C. Circuit's March 2026 decision in Benson v. United States created a circuit split cited by the petitioners. As of October 12, 2026, the petition remains pending; the Court has neither granted nor denied review, and the Ninth Circuit's judgment remains in place.

Sources

  1. Supreme Court of the United States: Duncan v. Bonta, No. 25-198 (docket)
  2. SCOTUSblog: Duncan v. Bonta (docket)
  3. Duke Firearms Law Center: SCOTUS Gun Watch: Week of 8/25/25

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