SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A voter-backed California law requiring background checks for people who buy bullets is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court ruled last week in a blow to the state’s efforts to combat gun violence.

In upholding a 2024 ruling by a lower court, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the law violates the Second Amendment. Voters passed the law in 2016 and it took effect in 2019.

Last year, U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez decided that the law was unconstitutional because if people can’t buy bullets, they

can’t use their guns for self-defense.

The 9th Circuit agreed. Writing for two of the three judges on the appellate panel, Judge Sandra Segal Ikuta said the law “meaningfully constrains” the constitutional right to keep arms by forcing gun owners to get rechecked before each purchase of bullets.

“The right to keep and bear arms incorporates the right to operate them, which requires ammunition,” the judge wrote.

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who supported the background checks, decried the court’s decision.

“Strong gun laws save lives — and today’s decision is a slap in the face to the progress California has made in recent years to keep its communities safer from gun violence,” Newsom said in a statement. “Californians voted to require background checks on ammunition and their voices should matter.”

The California Department of Justice said the state needs “common-sense, lifesaving” laws that prevent ammunition from falling into the wrong hands.