Ammunition controls, too tight(CA)

thereporter.com ^ | 26 December, 2010 | Charles R. Fry

[marktwain]

Last year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Assembly Bill 962, making it a crime to deliver handgun ammunition if the transaction is not done face-to-face, and if the driver fails to determine, through government identification, whether the recipient is legally authorized to receive the ammo.

This is a back door effort by the anti-gun lobby to stop private ownership of guns. In the immortal words of Rooster Cogburn, "A gun that's unloaded and cocked ain't good for nothing."

This law is scheduled to go into effect in February and criminalizes much of the commercial shipping of handgun ammunition in the state.

Drivers for delivery firms (UPS, FedEx, etc.) would have to become the police by determining what is being shipped and whether the person is qualified to receive it.

Second Amendment-advocates, including the NRA and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, are vowing to fight the statute.

They also contend that the law violates the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act, which prohibits states from interfering with common carriers, saying, "We cannot allow California to subject our members to criminal liability where the state has no right to meddle."

The real fear is that the law could set a precedent that would influence anti-gun local governments nationwide to set up a nightmare of a bureaucracy. The more red tape they create, the more they discourage people from becoming involved in shooting sports.

Finally, this is all about stopping Internet sales of ammunition. If you control the ammunition, you control the gun.

[Still Thinking]

That wasn’t because you’re from Kali, it was because you weren’t from Utah. FFL’s in any state aren’t allowed to sell to someone from a different state without transferring the weapon to a home-state FFL for transfer to the purchaser.

[TheDon]

Actually, it was because I was from Cali. The salesman mentioned a Cali law which prevented Californians from purchasing firearms from out of state. It sounded like nonsense to me. Certainly a violation of the Commerce Clause and my 2nd ammendment rights.

[Still Thinking]

It is a violation of your Second Amendment rights but not unique to Cali residents. People are supposed to be able to receive transfers only from home state FFL’s. Now maybe for all I know, Cali has passed a redundant state law to “protect” their tyranny in the remote possibility that the feds come to their senses, but for now it’s the same for everyone. Like I said, if you order from an out of state FFL or even private seller, they have to transfer to an FFL in your home state, and he takes a 4473 and is responsible for compliance with any state laws.