Supreme Court Refuses To Hear Challenge To California's Gun Law

CALIFORNIA -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to hear a challenge to California's law requiring a 10-day waiting period for firearm purchases. The justices did not say why they refused to hear the Second Amendment challenge, but Justice Clarence Thomas released a dissent, stating "courts cannot subject

laws that burden it to mere rational-basis review."

California is one of three states that require a 10-day waiting period for firearm purchases to allow for background checks. Also known as a "cooling period," Hawaii has a 14-day waiting period, the longest in the nation, according to the Giffords Law Center.

Gun rights group blasted the laws, stating it undermines the Second Amendment. The lawsuit, Silvester v. Bercerra, was challenged at the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco but was upheld by the judge.

But, Justice Thomas blasted the decision to uphold the law.

In his blistering 14-page dissent, he wrote "Purporting to apply intermediate scrutiny, the Court of Appeals upheld California’s 10-day waiting period for firearms based solely on its own 'common sense.' It did so without requiring California to submit relevant evidence, without addressing petitioners’ arguments to the contrary, and without acknowledging the District Court’s factual findings. This deferential analysis was indistinguishable from rational basis review. And it is symptomatic of the lower courts’ general failure to afford the Second Amendment the respect due an enumerated constitutional right."

The Supreme Court's decision to not hear the case comes as the nation debates over gun control laws following a deadly school shooting in Florida that killed 17.

In response to the shooting, students throughout the country have planned a walkout to protest gun violence.

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