CA gun dealers: Law forbidding window displays violates our freedom of speech

(Image credit: Tracy Rifle and Pistol)

last updated 8 January 2015

Gun store owners in California are forbidden from displaying firearms in the windows of their stores. They're not even allowed to display pictures of the items, and gun dealers say the law is a violation of their First Amendment rights.

Michael Baryla, owner of Tracy Rifle & Pistol, told Fox News that the fact that it's still illegal for him to show customers that he sells handguns until after they walk in the door is ridiculous. Baryla was cited by authorities for displaying a photo of handguns in his store window and given until February to take it down.

Baryla and three fellow gun dealers say that California Penal Code section 26820, a 1923 law banning gun stores from putting up signs advertising the sale of handguns, conflicts with their businesses' freedom of speech. They filed their suit Monday in Sacramento.