Judges strikes down San Francisco gun ban as invalid in its entirety

By Pat Murphy

June 12, 2006, 3:30 p.m.

Superior Court James Warren today ruled San Francisco's Proposition H Gun ban is in conflict with state law and therefore invalid.

Warren found that "ordinances in conflict with state law will prevail only as to matters that are of vital interest to the city but of little or no interest to the state."

"That is the opposite of the situation here.

"Such a total ban is impermissible under the current statewide statutory scheme.

"A Complete ban on the sale of guns and ammunition necessarily would render a citizen's right to purchase handguns illusory, since citizens typically come to possess a handgun by buying it."

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