A US District judge is blocking a California law that was supposed to go into effect Saturday. The law would have prevented gun owners from possessing high-capacity ammunition magazines. San Diego-based U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez says the law banning possession of magazines containing more than 10 bullets would have made criminals of thousands of otherwise law-abiding citizens who now own the magazines. He issued a preliminary injunction backing the legal challenge by the National Rifle Association-affiliated California Rifle & Pistol Association. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who is defending the state law, has not issued a response. The judge says the law approved by voters last November violates gun owners’ Second Amendment rights and amounts to the government taking people’s private property without compensation.