A Biden-appointed federal judge has refused, for now, the Trump administration’s effort to block the state of California from banning the sale of handguns made by Glock and similar weapons.

On July 9, U.S. District Judge Monica Ramirez Almadani denied the request from the U.S. Justice Department for a temporary restraining order freezing enforcement of the law known publicly as California’s “Glock Ban.”

In the ruling, Almadani did not address the merits of the Justice Department’s contention that the California law blatantly violates the Second Amendment and tramples on the rights of both gun owners and firearms sellers.

Rather, the ruling centered on whether the federal law under which the Justice Department’s Civil Rights division filed the lawsuit actually allows the Justice Department to challenge California’s law in the way it has at this time.

The ruling comes about a week after the Justice Department filed suit in Los Angeles federal court to block and ultimately strike down the new California state law.

That law, formally known as AB 1127, was passed by California’s Democratic legislative supermajority and signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom, also a Democrat, in 2025.

Supporters of the legislation say AB 1127 is needed to prevent the continued spread of semiautomatic pistols, made by Glock and others, which they assert can be easily modified into fully automatic firearms through the use of already-illegal aftermarket devices, known as “auto sears” or so-called “Glock switches.”

The devices are commonly used by street gang members and others to essentially convert their pistols into “machine guns” capable of indiscriminately spraying bullets with a single squeeze of the trigger.

Second Amendment rights advocates and others, however, have asserted the law tramples constitutional rights by targeting a particular class of weapons for ban, only building on California’s long and growing roster of gun bans and other firearms ownership and use restrictions.

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division joined the legal challenges on July 1, the day the “Glock Ban” took effect.

In recent months, particularly under Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon, who leads the Civil Rights Division, the Justice Department has for the first time moved to protect the civil and constitutional rights of American gun owners. The division has waded into court particularly against efforts by governments in Democrat-dominated states to ban a growing list of semiautomatic firearms or impose other restrictions on Second Amendment rights in the name of public safety.

In the complaint, the Justice Department said California’s “Glock Ban” violates the Second Amendment.

“The Second Amendment is a sacred right belonging to all Americans, even those in California. California cannot ban the most popular type of handgun in America,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “We will work to stop this blatant trampling of our rights by the California government to protect the rights of lawful gun owners.”

As part of that filing, the Justice Department sought a temporary restraining order and an injunction blocking the state from enforcing AB 1127 while the lawsuit plays out in court.

However, Judge Almadani, who is assigned to the case, said she didn’t believe such a TRO or injunction is proper, at this time, given legal uncertainties surrounding the ability of the federal government to challenge the state law.

In the ruling, Almadani indicated she may be inclined to side with California Democrats, who argue the Trump administration is misapplying the law, known as Section 12601. California Democrats argue the law was intended to allow federal officials to intervene in cases of police misconduct, and not to prevent the state from enforcing an allegedly unconstitutional gun ban that violates Second Amendment rights.

“… It is apparent that the use of Section 12601 to facially challenge a state criminal law is, at the very least, a novel approach that deviates from the way the statute has historically been enforced,” Almadani wrote, which she said typically involved addressing claims of law enforcement abuse or discrimination, notably including discrimination over “sexual orientation, gender identity, and LGBT status.”

In this case, however, the Trump administration asserted the law should also be used to protect the civil rights of gun owners against allegedly unconstitutional enforcement actions by the state of California.

But Almadani said: “Neither party identifies a previous instance in which the United States brought a Section 12601 claim for a violation of the Second Amendment, and the Court cannot find one. Nor is there any historical precedent for utilizing Section 12601 to ague that law enforcement officers engaged in a pattern or practice of unlawful conduct by enforcing a state firearms law.”

The judge said this means that “while there may be merit to the United States’ claim that (the Glock Ban law) unlawfully restricts California constituents’ access to Glock and Glock-type pistols, the novel approach the United States employs to stake its claim is not obviously sound,” and so cannot be used to justify a temporary restraining order while the basis for the case is determined in court.

Further, the judge said a temporary restraining order isn’t needed in the case, because the law doesn’t forbid the possession of the Glock guns, only the sale of the weapons moving forward.

“… It is not clear that California citizens are prohibited outright from acquiring Glock and Glock-style pistols,” Almadani wrote.

She said more time is needed to properly determine if Section 12601 allows the Justice Department’s action and “whether AB 1127 survives Second Amendment scrutiny.”

Almadani was appointed to the court in 2023 by former President Joe Biden. Before landing on the court, Almadani had served from 2012-2015 as an assistant U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles under former President Barack Obama, and had served from 2015-2017 as a special assistant attorney general in the California state Justice Department under then-California Attorney General Kamala Harris.

Harris served as vice president under Biden and was defeated by President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.

The state of California is represented in the action by current state Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat who replaced Harris as head of the California Justice Department.

The case remains pending, and the judge indicated the Justice Department can try again to block the law by seeking a preliminary injunction, instead.

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