Attorney General Bonta Applauds Ninth Circuit Decision Allowing Vital Data Sharing with Gun Violence Researchers

OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today secured a court decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit allowing the California Department of Justice (DOJ) to continue sharing data with qualified gun violence researchers to better direct strategies to prevent gun violence. The decision in Doe v. Bonta allows DOJ to continue to provide the University of California Firearm Violence Research Center and other qualified gun violence researchers with data under Assembly Bill 173 (AB 173), which is necessary to conduct research evaluating the leading causes and impacts of gun violence as well as effective responses. 

“Enabling rigorous empirical research is crucial as we strive to combat the scourge of gun violence within our state,” said Attorney General Bonta. “The Ninth Circuit’s decision marks a significant victory in our endeavor to curb gun violence in California. The information shared under AB 173 is pivotal: It enables groundbreaking research that supports informed policymaking aimed at reducing and preventing firearm violence and saving lives.”

Since the 1950s, California law has required DOJ to maintain records of handgun sales in California, and recently added sales of long guns and ammunition. This data provides a unique opportunity for gun violence research not available anywhere else. Since at least 1989, researchers at the University of California, Davis have been utilizing that data in studies aimed at understanding and preventing various forms of firearm violence. In 2016, the Legislature directed the Regents of the University of California to establish a Firearm Violence Research Center with the goals of producing interdisciplinary research addressing the nature and consequences of firearm violence, and working with policymakers to identify, implement, and evaluate innovative firearm violence prevention policies and programs. 

To aid in those goals, the Legislature mandated through AB 173 that DOJ provide this firearms data to the Firearm Violence Research Center and, at the Attorney General’s discretion, to other qualified researchers. Five registered California gun owners challenged the legislation and claimed it violated their Second Amendment rights and their right to informational privacy under the Fourteenth Amendment, among other claims. On Wednesday, May 8, the Ninth Circuit issued a unanimous published decision affirming the complete dismissal of this challenge to the law.

A copy of the court’s decision can be found here.