The span from March 29 to April 5 is being called “Freedom Week” because it was a time period when California gun owners were allowed to buy previously prohibited magazines.
A federal judge's ruling March 29 in an NRA-supported challenge to California’s magazine banlifted the floodgates for people who had been unable to make such purchases in 20 years.
Suddenly Californians no longer had restrictions over the manufacture, importation, sale, transfer, receipt, and possession of magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds.
And this pent up demand sent sales skyrocketing for a period of time now being called “Freedom Week.”
“There is a huge, pent-up demand for these magazines, because people recognize their value as self-defense tools,” explained a civil rights attorney spearheading gun rights for the California Rifle & Pistol Association.
One online seller described just how much Californians jumped at the opportunity to freely purchase the magazines.
“We received such an overwhelming surge of sales over the weekend, it actually crashed our merchant services, the website was fine, but our payment services were so overwhelmed it crashed,” said Aristotle Bartolome of Rainier Arms. “With that said, we closed out a very strong weekend, and even with the chaos, we’re currently 48 hours behind on getting all of the weekend orders caught up and adjusting staffing to better support our customers getting their orders quicker.”
The California Rifle & Pistol Association noted that “hundreds of thousands—if not millions—of magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds were lawfully purchased by California gun owners.”
This new freedom came to a crashing end on April 5 when the California court ruling was stayed pending an appeal and halting the sale of those magazines.
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