Byrna Files Lawsuit Against CA for Blocking Ammunition Sales of Less-Lethal Weapons
California’s crackdown on ‘less-lethal’ weapons sparks 2A lawsuit targeting Newsom administration
By Katy Grimes, December 8, 2025 2:55 am
Bryan Ganz is the founder of Byrna, the less-lethal self-defense weapons, which looks like handguns but shoot powerful chemical irritants rather than lethal bullets, designed to immobilize an attacker air intruder. The weapons are legal in all 50 states. But, in California, Ganz told the Globe that the state blocked sales of Byrna’s ammunition and launchers.
Why? We thought a less-lethal weapon (some say it’s non-lethal) would be a wildly popular option, and hailed by California’s Attorney General and law enforcement. The Byrna uses a pepper-gel projectile, like a pepper spray, rather than bullets.
But it’s complicated, the Gun Zone explains, thanks to California’s highly regulated gun control laws. “Because it doesn’t discharge a projectile ‘by means of an explosive,’ as defined by California Penal Code section 16520, it technically falls outside the strict definition of a firearm. However, this doesn’t automatically grant free rein. California law, particularly when dealing with weapons designed for defense, is highly regulated.”
And it’s further complicated by brazen gun control and anti-police politics.
In 2021, California passed Assembly Bill 48 by then-Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, which outlawed “the use of kinetic energy projectiles or chemical agents by any law enforcement agency to disperse any assembly, protest, or demonstration, except in compliance with specified standards set by the bill, and would prohibit their use solely due to a violation of an imposed curfew, verbal threat, or noncompliance with a law enforcement directive.”
In 2021, with the well-funded George Floyd protests across the country, police were confronted with violent riots and protesters, and forced to use crowd control measures. Assemblywoman Gonzalez claimed that her bill was in response to the unwarranted force used by law enforcement against protestors, journalists and others in the George Floyd protests. She objected to the injuries caused by rubber bullets, beanbag rounds, foam rounds, and other projectiles, the Globe reported in 2021.
The California Legislature claimed AB 48 only applied to law enforcement crowd control measures, yet they banned the use of kinetic energy projectiles or chemical agents, which extended beyond law enforcement, as Byrna found out.
“Plaintiffs bring this lawsuit to challenge California’s ban on the possession and sale of pepper projectile launchers,” the lawsuit states (below). “Pepper projectile launchers are a commonly-used arm that many Americans choose as a non-lethal alternative to firearms. California doesn’t just deny its citizens this choice; it criminalizes the act of selling or possessing such an arm. This inexplicable ban violates the Second Amendment. In Caetano v. Massachusetts, a unanimous Supreme Court held that non-lethal stun guns are “arms” protected by the Second Amendment. 577 U.S. 411, 412 (2016) (per curiam). The non-lethal arms at issue here are similarly protected.”
It is important to note that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled: The Second Amendment covers all weapons that may be defined as “bearable arms,” even if they did not exist when the Bill of Rights was drafted and are not commonly used in warfare.
Bottom line: Byrna’s “pepper projectile launchers” are protected under the Second Amendment, according to their lawsuit, filed last week in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
This is the newest Byrna, the CL for “Compact Launcher,” a “next-generation less-lethal self-defense tool designed for true concealability.”
Californians can use small cans of pepper spray (up to 2.5 oz), but not weapons that shoot tear gas or pepper ball projectiles, like the Byrna HD, a pepper ball launcher designed to incapacitate an aggressor temporarily.
The beauty of the Byrna, unlike firearms, is that it is not deadly, but will stop an intruder or aggressor in their tracks when the chemical irritant makes contact with their skin, gets in their eyes – most people reportedly drop to the ground, giving the victim time to get away.
“Upon contact, these projectiles rupture and release an irritant powder that temporarily incapacitates an aggressor. The impact force is comparable to a recreational paintball, and the irritant effect typically wears off within 30 minutes—thus the common characterization of pepper projectile launchers as non-lethal or less-lethal weapons,” the lawsuit explains.
The bans on Pepper Projectile Launchers “are patently unconstitutional under the Second Amendment. Plaintiffs respectfully request that this Court declare the Pepper Projectile Launcher Bans unconstitutional and enjoin their enforcement.”
According to Gantz, the Byrna is popular with consumers on the left and right, as well as non-gun owners. Two-thirds of their customers are gun owners, and the vast majority merely want to deescalate a dangerous situation or confrontation without lethal force.
California and New York are the only two states that prohibit residents from owning the launchers, Gantz said.
“The primary advantage of a less-lethal weapon is its ability to neutralize a threat and protect one’s family without the risk of causing permanent harm or death to either,” the lawsuit says. “Modern pepper projectile launchers achieve this at distances of 60 feet or more, allowing the user to maintain a safe standoff while projecting force with precision. For many law-abiding citizens, carrying a firearm for self-defense is not a practical or desirable option, yet these individuals have the same fundamental right to defend themselves. Pepper projectile launchers provide this critically needed defensive capability. California’s ban, however, inexplicably denies its citizens a viable, effective, and less-lethal choice for defense of self, family and home.
In 2025, the California Department of Justice updated the status of non-lethal weapons:
(e) (1) No person shall purchase, possess, or use any tear gas weapon that expels a projectile, or that expels the tear gas by any method other than an aerosol spray, or that contains more than 2.5 ounces net weight of aerosol spray.
The Byrna is unique, the lawsuit explains:
“Unlike conventional firearms, pepper projectile launchers function exclusively using standard CO2 cartridges or other compressed gases, containing no gunpowder or explosive mechanism whatsoever. The launcher’s primary defensive purpose and function, as it is commonly sold and understood, is to deliver irritant projectiles to temporarily incapacitate an aggressor. The launchers that Byrna offers to civilians are manually operated, requiring a separate trigger pull for each projectile fired, and the magazine for the most popular civilian model holds only five projectiles. Mechanically, these features position pepper projectile launchers alongside recreational paintball or airsoft markers—not firearms. Roughly 90 percent of the launchers Byrna sells are pistols, and rifles constitute the remaining 10 percent.”
As Bryan Ganz told the Globe, he realized that there was a critical need for a less-lethal self-defense option that could effectively stop a threat at a distance.
Civilians and security professionals use Byrna’s less-lethal weapons. The safe, reliable and effective less-lethal alternatives to traditional firearms allow Byrna customers to protect and defend themselves – without the need to resort to lethal force. Ganz said Byrna helps provide protection in homes, businesses, vehicles and when out in public.
Powered by compressed air (CO2), the Byrna CL shoots .61 caliber round kinetic and/or chemical irritant projectiles that can disable a threat from up to 60-feet away.
2025-12-03 Schiller Complaint (FILED)
A California native and Navy mom, Katy lives in Sacramento, CA.
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The Democrats want you to be afraid, alone, masked, defenseless and utterly reliant upon them
If you live in California, you’re in a communist country and need to move ASAP.
Your in danger everyday.
We had actually considered getting a Byrna as a non-lethal defense against……. well, you know, the many unnecessary problems and dangers, including violent crime, that the state of California has created for its citizens that now require such a defense? Especially starting with the “Summer of Love” in 2020 and its ubiquitous threats that landed EVERYWHERE, and which caused the most mild-mannered residents to realize they needed to arm themselves. Hadn’t realized, or else it was lost in the bombardment, or maybe I just forgot, that the State of California was busy screwing us over on the Byrna choice too. Question: What, exactly, of value has this super-majority Dem-Marxist legislature done to benefit the CA citizenry? Answer: NOTHING.
In light of that it’s almost too much on top of it all to see the name of that dinosaur witch of a former CA Asm, now union hack, Lorena (AB5 the Job Killer) Gonzalez, pop up again.
Glad to see that Byrna is suing, as they should. May they mightily succeed in their lawsuit, as they should.
As a Byrna owner in California I must admit that without being able to use a pepper projectile this will not be effective in stopping an assault. We need to stand together and support the use of a Byrna launcher and pepper infused projectiles.
it appears by default due to the fact it is capable of shooting pepper balls the launcher itself is prohibited due to its capability, California is a trash state for freedom and rights and laws
I wasn’t aware of the Byrna launcher, but it seems like a nice defense tool.
Of course, the authoritarian government of California banned them. The California Communist Democrats want everyone to become a victim of crime. If you are not voting for Republicans and putting your family at risk of becoming crime victims, you are not smart.
Nevada is a short drive for things that California won’t let you have.
I hope nv doesn’t play that card, I dont feel as though we will, were pretty decent on weapon laws and not too many prohibitedness, can carry what we need to get the job done, we still kinda got that wild west outlaw vibe going here open carry, no knife lengths regulations, no airgun regs, no pepper spray regs, we just regulate actual explosives and cs gas the serious stuff…
Need to add NYC to that lawsuit