"A federal judge appointed by former President Barack Obama on Tuesday struck down a 95-year-old California law that had banned handgun ads at gun shops, calling it "unconstitutional on its face" and slamming the state for its "paternalistic" assumption that its residents can't make up their own minds about firearms.
Officials in California had claimed the advertisements would trigger people with “impulsive personality traits” to buy more handguns, leading to increased suicides and crime -- assertions that U.S. District Judge Troy Nunley in Sacramento all but mocked in his ruling.
The 1923 law provided that "No handgun or imitation handgun, or placard advertising the sale or other transfer thereof, shall be displayed in any part of [a gun store] where it can readily be seen from the outside."
Wow. From 1923, I'm guessing it was more to do with trying to cut down on prohibition era gangsters getting concealable firearms than playing daddy and preventing suicides. That was probably just the spin that the feel-good lunatics out there latched on to to keep it on the books. Most of the guns that stores sold in that era were probably hunting shotguns and rifles and you have to remember that a lot of people probably mail ordered their guns from catalogs too. At the time it was probably a "non issue" but you can bet your ass that CA isn't going to repeal a gun law regardless of how stupid it is.