"Just because you cannot comply doesn’t mean the law cannot exist.
Just because a law is impossible to follow is not enough of a reason for a court to throw it out.
So California's Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.
On the face the ruling sounds utterly absurd, but there's a deeper explanation that makes it a little less silly and much more deeply concerning about the deference granted to lawmakers.Some context: California passed a law a decade ago that demanded gun manufacturers implement microstamping technology that would imprint identifying information on bullets as they were shot from semi-automatic weapons.
Gun manufacturers say the technology hasn't advanced enough to comply with the law.
Smith & Wesson announced in 2014 that they would be pulling some guns from the market in California rather than complying with the law (a cynic might theorize that this is the law's actual intent).
The National Shooting Sports Foundation sued to block the law.
California's Civil Code contains a section that simply reads, "The law never requires impossibilities."
So the question the state's Supreme Court was addressing was whether the courts can invalidate this law because it is impossible for people to comply with it.
Not only did the California Supreme Court rule that it cannot invalidate the law, but it ruled so unanimously..."
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