[JURIST] Gun rights advocates are allowed to publish personal information, such as addresses and telephone numbers, of legislators who voted in favor of California’s recent gun control laws, a federal judge ruled [opinion, PDF] Monday. Chief Judge Lawrence O’Neill of the US District Court for the Eastern District of California [official website] issued a preliminary injunction against California Government Code § 6254.21(c) [text, PDF], which is being challenged by the Firearms Policy Coalition [advocacy website]. The statute allows public officials to make a written demand that their personal information not be displayed if they are being threatened or fear for the safety. The court found that the factors necessary to grant a preliminary injunction were present: “For the foregoing reasons, the Court finds that Plaintiffs are likely to succeed on their claims that § 6254.21(c) violates the First Amendment as applied to them, and also violates the dormant Commerce Clause as applied to Hoskins. The Court further finds that the remaining preliminary injunction factors weigh in Plaintiffs’ favor.”

Gun control remains a divisive issue [JURIST op-ed], according to Allen Rostron [official profile] of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law [official website]. In February the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled [JURIST report] that Maryland’s assault weapons ban is constitutional. The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh District earlier this month overturned Florida’s 2011 Firearms Owners’ Privacy Act (FOPA), also referred to as the “Docs vs. Glocks” law. Also in February the US Senate voted [JURIST report] to reverse an Obama-era gun regulation that required mental health information to be shared with the national gun background check system. The New Hampshire House of Representatives approved [JURIST report] a bill [SB 12 text] that would repeal the law prohibiting state citizens from carrying concealed firearms without a permit.