San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera on Thursday sued five online gun equipment suppliers selling disassembled large-capacity ammunition magazines as "repair kits" in an alleged attempt to get around state laws.
The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court, alleges that Badger Mountain Supply, 7.62 Precision, Shooters Plus, LAK Supply and Buymilsurp.com are engaging in unfair or fraudulent business practices and seeks penalties of $2,500 in penalties for each individual violation.
In addition, it seeks a court order prohibiting the companies from marketing or selling large-capacity magazine repair kits or any type of disassembled magazines in California and requiring them to make a statement on their websites and other marketing materials that it is illegal to buy such products in the state.
All five of the companies, which are based outside of California, currently falsely market their products as being compliant with state laws, the lawsuit alleges.
"It takes a particular type of miscreant to compromise the safety of Californians simply for profit," Herrera said in a statement.
State law has prohibited the sale, manufacture or import of large-capacity magazines holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition since Jan. 1, 2000.
In 2013, that law was strengthened to specifically outlaw the sale or purchase of disassembled large-capacity magazines as "kits" and in 2014 banned the possession of such magazines.
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Proposition 63, approved by voters in November, also includes a prohibition on the possession of large-capacity magazines with few exceptions.
Large-capacity magazines have been used in mass shootings including the 2016 nightclub massacre that killed 49 people in Orlando, Florida, and the 2015 San Bernardino attack, which killed 14, Herrera said.
