A federal appeals court blocked a judge's ruling that would throw out California's assault weapon ban

• A federal appeals court Monday blocked a lower court's decision to throw out California's ban on assault weapons.
• US District Judge Roger T. Benitez earlier in June struck down California's decades-long ban.
• But a three-judge panel Monday issued an indefinite stay on his order.

A three-judge federal appeals court on Monday blocked a lower court's controversial ruling that found California's decades-old ban on assault weapons unconstitutional.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit issued a stay of the ruling, preventing it from going into effect indefinitely as another case challenging the decision works its way through the courts.

On June 4, US District Judge Roger T. Benitez, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush, struck down California's ban on assault weapons, which was enacted in 1989. In doing so, he called the law a "failed experiment" and described assault weapons as "fairly ordinary, popular, modern rifles," even likening the AR-15, which has been used in the most deadly mass shootings in the US, to a Swiss Army Knife.

"Like the Swiss Army Knife, the popular AR-15 rifle is a perfect combination of home defense weapon and homeland defense equipment," Benitez wrote.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta appealed Benitez's decision in mid-June. The assault weapons ban will remain in place until another decision is reached in a similar case challenging California's ban.

"This leaves our assault weapons laws in effect while appellate proceedings continue," Bonta said in a tweet. "We won't stop defending these life-saving laws."

Benitez has a history of ruling against the state's gun restrictions, including limits on remote ammunition purchases and the state's ban on high-capacity magazines.