California: Anti-Gun Bills to be Heard in the Senate and Assembly Appropriations Committee This Week

The NRA Institute for Legislative Action ^ | May 1, 2011 | NRA-ILA

[Redcloak]

California: Anti-Gun Bills to be Heard in the Senate and Assembly Appropriations Committee This Week Sunday, May 01, 2011 Please contact members of the Senate and House Appropriations Committees Today! On May 2 and May 4, the Senate and Assembly Appropriations Committees will be hearing anti-gun bills that will have major implications for California gun owners and sportsmen if passed and enacted. Senate Bill 124 would ban virtually all handgun and rifle ammunition and cartridges. Assembly Bill 144 would ban open carry of firearms. Assembly Bill 809 would require long gun registration. The Senate Appropriations Committee is expected to hear SB 124 this Monday, May 2 at 11:00 A.M. in Room 4203. Introduced by anti-gun extremist state Senator Kevin De León (D-22), SB 124 would create a broadly expanded and technically flawed definition of handgun ammunition which would encompass virtually all rifle cartridges. It would also ban the possession of many types of rifle cartridges and make it a felony to possess them. SB 124 doesn’t stop there, it could also ban virtually all non-lead ammunition used in California by reclassifying them as “armor piercing.” If enacted, this bill could result in a complete ban on hunting in the California condor zone where the use of lead ammunition is prohibited for hunting. This bill has enormous ramifications for California gun owners and sportsmen. If this bill did not already make owning a firearm difficult, an amendment was added by the bill sponsor to further add more problems for gun owners. SB 124 would also require the registration of ammunition and the banning of mail-order ammunition.   Call and e-mail members of the Senate Appropriations Committee TODAY urging them to OPPOSE SB 124. Contact information for the Senate Appropriations Committee can be found here.   The Assembly Appropriations Committee is expected to hear AB 144 and AB 809 this Wednesday, May 4. AB 144 is just another bill to further stifle law-abiding gun owners from exercising their right to keep and bear arms. Introduced by anti-gun Assemblyman Anthony Portantino (D-44), AB 144 would change the state’s gun laws and prohibit law-abiding citizens from carrying an unloaded handgun openly. It is currently legal to carry an unloaded handgun into most public places within the state, including restaurants and malls, but if approved, AB 144 would make it a misdemeanor to carry an unloaded handgun in public under most circumstances. Introduced again by F-rated Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-42), AB 809 would establish a state registration system, similar to the one currently in place for handguns, for all newly-acquired rifles and shotguns. Under AB 809, the make, model and serial number of the firearm as well as the identifying information of the purchaser would be recorded and kept on file by the California Attorney General’s office.   Please call and e-mail members of the Assembly Appropriations Committee urging them to OPPOSE AB 144 and AB 809. Contact information for the Assembly Appropriations Committee can be found here.

Copyright 2011, National Rifle Association of America, Institute for Legislative Action. This may be reproduced. It may not be reproduced for commercial purposes. 11250 Waples Mill Road, Fairfax, VA 22030 800-392-8683



[Redcloak]

A trio of really bad bills will be heard this week. AB 144 is another attempt to ban open carry in California. (Currently legal, albeit in a very weird form!) AB 809 would create a stealth long-gun registration system by retaining DROS records. A similar stealth handgun registry already exists in this State. And finally, SB 124 does what we warned would happen when the "save-the-already-extinct-condors" lead ammo ban was passed: Ban alternatives to lead as "armor piercing".

[stevie_d_64]

Well, California...

You get what you voted for...

These bills, if they become law, just about seal California’s fate...

“Have a nice day...”

[KoRn]

How could CA be anymore antigun?

They might as well just go ahead and ban guns outright. People probably wouldn’t be able to tell much difference.

[samadams2000]

When in course of human events it becomes necessary.....

[sigzero]

If it goes...looks like another trip to the SCOTUS.

[blueplum]

that’s an interesting approach: ban lead bullets as environmentally hazardous then ban any bullet not made from lead as ‘armour piercing’.

I’m not sure if there’s enough NRA members in California to defeat these bills, however, the constitutionality of the bill is certainly an issue, and the quantity of bills demonstrates the Dem agenda - disarm citizens in a high-crime state that’s been under invasion for 20 years.

[Redcloak]

Compared to some other states, CA isn’t all that anti-gun. We don’t have FOID cards. “Assault weapons” are mostly legal here. (Some aren’t, but the number of “off-list lowers” grows faster than the AG’s office can add them to the AW list. And even if a particular OLL model is added to the list, existing guns can still be registered and legally kept.) CCW is possible; though, not likely in the more populous counties. (There are still some states that ban it outright.) There’s a large-cap magazine ban, but it’s unenforceable and thus ignored. We have state preemption, so no DC or Chicago style local gun bans. We’ve had a “castle doctrine” law for decades.

We’ve avoided living up to our reputation though the efforts of gun owners in this state. When this crap gets introduced in Sacramento, we light up their phone lines and email boxes like the Fourth of July. Paper starts flying out of their FAX machines like something out of a Tex Avery cartoon. Last year, we beat back every anti-gun law they tried. So no, an outright ban would not be an unrecognizable change.

[Redcloak]

I’m not sure if there’s enough NRA members in California to defeat these bills,

See my earlier post at #7

The NRA has a very large and very effective Members' Council system in this State. We have a dedicated lobbyist; other states have lobbyists that they share with other states or an entire region. (And failing that, we have a legal team that's second to none.) We have a very effective and successful team here. Last year, not one anti-gun bill got through. The danger we face isn't a lack of numbers, it's the temptation to rest on our laurels.

[blueplum]

well, I’ve done my part going down the list and writing brief emails.

Also called Assembly candidate Beth Gaines (R), who’s flyer I received yesterday, and was assured by her campaign office she will be vocal against the Assembly bills, having “hunted since [she was]12”.

[Redcloak]

Thanks blueplum!

There's a handy resource available at the CA Members' Council site. The "One-click" service allows you to contact multiple CA legislators with a single email. (Just make the salutation generic; "Dear Assembly member" or "Dear Senator" rather than "Dear Senator Smith".) There are addresses to contact an entire house of the Legislature or just members of a particular committee.

[BenLurkin]

The lefties hate liberty.

[DCBryan1]

Thanks for the summation. My wife and I are thinking about moving to Paso Robles, CA, but we both have CCW and our own collection of “assault weapons”. I’d have to leave the Title 2 weapons behind or in an NFA friendly state nearby (NZ or AZ). However, I know of a couple of people with unregistered Title 2 weapons in SLO county that told me, “bring anything you want....just don’t get caught”.

[Myrddin]

It is exactly this kind of endless anti-gun horse shit that made it very easy to sell my house in San Diego and buy a much nicer one in Pocatello, Idaho. All of my "toys" are at my home in Idaho. Unfortunately, all of the contracts I was working from my home office in Idaho vanished the day after Obama was inaugurated. I'm stuck in the hell-hole of San Diego working to support my family. My company is taxing me at the 10% CA rate instead of the 8% ID rate now. I'm almost ready to walk away from my high paying job in San Diego as most of it is just being consumed with the outrageous cost of living and high taxes. The remainder supports my family in Idaho. In a few weeks, I'll be having to shovel out another $1,000 per month for an apartment as well. It's just not worth it.

[Myrddin]

It is exactly this kind of endless anti-gun horse shit that made it very easy to sell my house in San Diego and buy a much nicer one in Pocatello, Idaho. All of my "toys" are at my home in Idaho. Unfortunately, all of the contracts I was working from my home office in Idaho vanished the day after Obama was inaugurated. I'm stuck in the hell-hole of San Diego working to support my family. My company is taxing me at the 10% CA rate instead of the 8% ID rate now. I'm almost ready to walk away from my high paying job in San Diego as most of it is just being consumed with the outrageous cost of living and high taxes. The remainder supports my family in Idaho. In a few weeks, I'll be having to shovel out another $1,000 per month for an apartment as well. It's just not worth it.

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

I predict they will all pass and Brown will sign them. The Bullet Bill will require each and every bullet to carry an individual serial number and be registered. Can you imagine? This alone will destroy the industry and sport. And Shotguns, with sleeved shot columns will become illegal because they cannot be traced or numbered.

[Redcloak]

I predict they will all pass and Brown will sign them.

But then again...

Jerry's Guns

[trapped_in_LA]

Brown may not sign them, he is, believe it or not, slightly more of a gun supporter than Meg Whitman or Arnold are. In any case it seems it’s time to get an initiative on the ballot and let the people here vote on it. May go the wrong way but at least then the people of California have no excuse.

[neverdem]

BUMP & a BANG!

[Inyo-Mono]

How could CA be anymore antigun?

They might as well just go ahead and ban guns outright. People probably wouldn’t be able to tell much difference. I know it is hard to believe, but most of California is rural with thousands and thousands of hunters and recreational shooters. It is still common to see trucks with rifle racks and I hear gunshots from my house almost every morning; not gangbangers, but hunters shooting.

[Cobra64]

I tried to email the chair-person of the committee with this note:

Dear Senator,

My wife and I are considering moving to Walnut Creek to be closer to our children, but we are reconsidering this move due to AB 144 and AB 809 being passed. I strongly urge you to OPPOSE these bills.

These bills and many others make California a very unfriendly place to live with over regulation and taxes on hard working Americans. Based on California's financial situation legislators should rethink what they're doing in destroying one of the most formerly admired states in this great country of ours.

Regards,

But it's district sensitive and bounced me out.