Galvan v. Superior Court

This is a petition for writ of mandate by John Galvan, a resident, taxpayer and firearms owner in San Francisco, in which he attacks the constitutionality of ordinance No. 175-68, the so-called San Francisco gun law. The ordinance, enacted in July 1968, provides for the registration of all firearms within San Francisco, with certain exceptions.1

Galvan contends that the San Francisco gun law is void because the law conflicts directly with state laws regulating firearms, and, even if construed to avoid a direct conflict, invades the field of weapons control, which has assertedly been preempted…