State attorney general weighs appeal of judge's ruling on gun law

By City News Service

leadoff homer against starter Merrill Kelly. Japan then loaded the bases with one out on singles by Kazuma Okamoto and Sosuke Genda and a walk to its No. 9 hitter, Yuhei Nakamura.

DeRosa then replaced Kelly with Angels reliever Aaron Loup.

St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbaar, a former USC and El Segundo High standout, grounded out to Goldschmidt, driving in Okamoto with the go-ahead run. Nootbaar was eligible to play for Japan because his mother is Japanese.

Japan increased its lead to 3-1 when Okamoto homered leading off the third off Colorado Rockies' left-hander Kyle Freeland, the third of six U.S. pitchers.

The Americans cut the deficit to 3-2 on Kyle Schwarber's eighth-inning homer off San Diego Padres right-hander Yu Darvish, who pitched for the Dodgers in 2017.

Left-hander Shota Imanaga, the first of Japan's seven pitchers, was credited with the victory, allowing one run and four hits over two innings, striking out two and not walking a batter. The rule requiring a starter to pitch five innings to be eligible for a victory was waived for the tournament because of its pitch limits.

Kelly was charged with the loss, allowing two runs and three hits in 1 1/3 innings, with two walks and one strikeout.

The championship was Japan's third in the tournament's five editions. Japan also won the championship in each of the first two tournaments, 2006 and 2009.

The United States won in its lone previous title game appearance in 2017, the most recent time the tournament was played before this year. The 2021 tournament was canceled in May 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Japan completed the tournament 7-0 and received $3 million — $300,000 for qualifying for the tournament, $300,000 for winning its group, $400,000 for advancing to the quarterfinals, $500,000 for advancing to the semifinals, $500,000 for advancing to the final and $1 million for winning the final — to be split between its players and national baseball federation.

The U.S. went 5-2, also losing a pool play game March 12. It received $1.7 million.

The tournament will next be played in 2026.

The California Attorney General's Office on Tuesday was weighing an appeal of a federal judge's ruling striking down the state's Unsafe Handgun Act. U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney issued a preliminary injunction Monday in a federal lawsuit challenging the state's gun law requiring specific devices on firearms to improve their safety and to identify fired bullets.

"We will continue to lead efforts to advance and defend California's gun safety laws," Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. "As we move forward to determine next steps in this case, Californians should know that this injunction has not gone into effect and that California's important gun safety requirements related to the Unsafe Handgun Act remain in effect."

The Attorney General's Office was given two weeks to file an appeal.

Carney's ruling does not affect the state's requirement that guns for sale must be in the state's list of weapons that have passed other safety tests.

Carney referred to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found the government cannot just cite the promotion of an important public interest and that any gun safety laws must be "consistent with the nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation."

Carney said the state's requirements "unquestionably infringe on the right to keep and bear arms" as guaranteed in the Second Amendment.

"Plaintiffs seek to purchase state-of-the-art handguns for self-defense," Carney wrote. The state's requirements "prevents this," he added.

"To acquire the latest model of a semiautomatic handgun, plaintiffs must buy one secondhand if they can find one, and at a high markup," Carney said.

The state's law requires safety features aimed at reducing the chances of accidental discharges of guns. It also requires a device that leaves an identifiable mark on spent shells that law enforcement can use to identify the gun.

"The microstamping requirement has prevented any new handgun models from being added to the (state's list of safe guns) since May 2013," Carney wrote. Gun manufacturers don't make a weapon with this technology, the judge noted.