National Shooting Sports Foundation, Inc. v. State

The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the court of appeal interpreting Cal. Civ. Code 3531 as authorizing a court to declare Cal. Penal Code 31910(b)(7)(A) unenforceable when a complainant alleges, and the court finds, that complying with the statute is impossible.Penal Code 31910(b)(7)(A) amended the definition of unsafe handguns under the Unsafe Handgun Act to include semiautomatic pistols that are not equipped with with dual placement microstamping. National Shooting Sports Foundation, Inc. (NSSF) filed a complaint seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, alleging that dual placement micro stamping technology was impossible to implement and, therefore, Penal Code 31910(b)(7)(A) was unenforceable on the basis of Civil Code 3531’s declaration that “[t]he law never requires impossibilities.” The court of appeals held that NSSF may present evidence of impossibility and that the judiciary may invalidate Penal Code 31910(b)(7)(A) if compliance is shown to be impossible. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that Civil Code 3531’s maxim that "[t]he law never requires impossibilities” is an interpretive aid that occasionally authorizes an exception to a statutory mandate in accordance with the Legislature’s intent behind the mandate and has never been recognized, nor will it be recognized in this case, as a ground for invalidating a statutory mandate altogether. View "National Shooting Sports Foundation, Inc. v. State" on Justia Law