Posted on 12/23/2012 2:51:37 PM PST by neverdem
Golden State legislators join the gun control chorus in the wake of Sandy Hook.
It took only days before Californias lefty legislators reacted to the horrific Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy with a fusillade of bills designed to take California closer to Democratic leaders unstated but obvious goal: making it essentially illegal for citizens to own firearms in California.
I write essentially because the strategy isnt to ban guns outright, but to mire ownership in so many layers of regulation that owning a gun becomes even more frustrating and costly than operating a business in this state. Legislators arent stupid. Direct assaults on gun ownership generate pushback, but killing this right through a thousand cuts works fine.
California already has the toughest gun regulations in America, yet legislators (including a numbskull Republican) have introduced a long list of new proposals at press conferences where they used the Connecticut tragedy to grandstand.
They were mowed down, said Los Angeles Democratic Sen. Kevin de Leon. I think that viscerally it will give a lot of political officials around the country the political courage to do the right thing. But its not clear what de Leon means by the right thing. California has passed 45 gun-control laws in the last 23 years. (Liberal Connecticut has tough gun laws, too.)
California has long waiting periods, background-check requirements, limits on the number of gun purchases, bans on gun sales to people with mental illnesses and felony convictions, bans on high-capacity magazines, and on concealed carry. The governor recently signed a law banning the open carrying of unloaded long guns. The list goes on. Thats in addition to myriad federal restrictions.
If you think were safe from gun violence because of all those rules, check out the murder rates in Los Angeles, Oakland, and San Bernardino.
Now de Leon is targeting ammunition. We dont think about the fuel that feeds the violence, and thats ammunition. If you want to fish, you have to secure a license to fish. If you want to cut down a Christmas tree in Californiathis is legally factualyou have to secure a permit at a cost of $10. Yet anyone who walks into any gun store in California can buy all the ammunition they want.
That statement is more of an indictment of the kind of society weve becomeso regulated and taxed that one isnt allowed to cut down a Christmas tree without getting government permissionthan about firearms. But I digress.
Like everyone, Im still shaken by the school-shooting. Im all ears when it comes to finding real solutions to violence, but am tired of cheap, predictable attempts to turn tragedy into another assault on our liberties and wallets.
After this weeks legislative frenzy, I headed to one of the largest Sacramento-area gun dealerships to purchase that 12-gauge shotgun Ive been considering only to find the shelves virtually bare. The Daily Beast reports on a similar situation throughout the country.
Americans realize that an assault on private gun ownership is coming and its best buying a weapon now while they still are available at a store rather than only on the black market.
Perhaps de Leon and others might ask constituents why they would want a gun. This morning, my wife handed me the local newspaper with a story about three men who were arrested for murdering one of my neighbors in October during a robbery. Is it unreasonable to want the wherewithal to defend ones family? The cocking of the shotgunthe international sound of youre not welcome herewould be all it takes to dissuade most intruders.
Gun-control advocates are utopians. Their perspective is that if guns no longer are readily available, that violence will evaporate. But there are so many guns in circulation it would take decades to reduce their availabilityunless legislators adopt the police-state policy of sending cops door-to-door to confiscate them. Even then, there would be black markets and other methods for evil folks to commit mayhem (bombs, knives).
Its better to let people arm themselves. An operator of a private school told me that Californias 1995 Gun-Free School Zone Act banning guns within 1,000 feet of schools is making it difficult to hire an armed security guard.
Theres a reason criminals are more likely to ply their trade in gun free zones than in heavily armed neighborhoods. Theres no better check on a diabolical gun owner than decent gun owners. I personally dont like guns and wish everyone were peaceful and kind, but its better to be realistic than to pursue a fantasy world.
Gun-control laws exempt groups of government officials. Anyone who believes working for the government relieves people of the tendency to do bad things has never heard the phrase going Postal. There are endless stories of authorities misusing their firearms on- and off-duty, which is a reminder of the main reason the founders gave gun ownership the second spot in the Bill of Rights.
Californians crazy enough to believe these new proposed laws will make them safer ought to be happy. The rest of us should find a well-stocked gun store as soon as possible.
Yet another reason I am leaving this putrid state and going back to my beloved Texas.
San Francisco has a bill up for the banning of hollow-points and police must be notified if anybody buys over 400 rounds of ammunition.
All pointless but it makes the liberals feel good about themselves until they move onto something else..
Except that we have a 2nd Amendment so a defacto ban through deliberately cumbersome regulation is unconstitutional.
We dont think about the fuel that feeds the violence, and thats ammunition.
Settles that, I guess. I always thought criminals cause crime, but apparently not.
Imagine if these tactics were applied similarly to the so-called ‘right’ to vote.
Talk about disenfranchised!
No matter.
CA is going to go down the tubes financially.
The feds will not be able to bail them out because at about the same time, the bond market balloon with burst.
CA will eventually end up voting out all of the nut cases they have in their government and clean house.
I would never buy 400rounds at once.
A box, every couple of weeks, will do. :)
“It took only days before Californias lefty legislators reacted to the horrific Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy with a fusillade of bills designed to take California closer to Democratic leaders unstated but obvious goal: making it essentially illegal for citizens to own firearms in California.”
So they are taking another shot at it. They have been attempting it for a long time. Sandy Hook is just their latest excuse.
bond market balloon will burst.
We are already looking to retire out of Cali. If they enact more laws now, we will retire sooner!
Pretty soon there won't be anyone left in this state.
Now de Leon is targeting ammunition. We dont think about the fuel that feeds the violence, and thats ammunition. If you want to fish, you have to secure a license to fish. If you want to cut down a Christmas tree in Californiathis is legally factualyou have to secure a permit at a cost of $10. Yet anyone who walks into any gun store in California can buy all the ammunition they want.
Good grief, 500 rounds of plinking quality .22 lr is only twenty bucks, when it use to be available, where I live.
“If you want to fish, you have to secure a license to fish. If you want to cut down a Christmas tree in Californiathis is legally factualyou have to secure a permit at a cost of $10.”
SO...rather than challenge the abject idiocy of those two “fees”, only the commies can use them as grounds to add yet another infringement on our Constitutional rights.
These nutcase do-gooders will NEVER understand that the Second Amendment does NOT grant any ‘rights’. It merely recognizes our God-given right to self defense, from our own government every bit as much as from the home invader, the car jacker, or the mental case that shoots up a school, killing 20 innocent children.
The blood of the Sandy Hook massacre victims stains the Democratic party legislators of California along with all those who deny victims the right to self defense.
Shame on them!
“CA will eventually end up voting out all of the nut cases they have in their government and clean house.”
Man I sure hope you are right. I’ve been trying to vote the bastards out for most of my 72 years! But, I do think that the RATS have seriously overplayed their hand this time. They are out of control and people are beginning to notice. Watching the state go bust would be a welcome sight. It will not be without pain, but nothing worthwhile usually is.
In 1982 Cali voters rejected a handgun ban law.
The state has been trying to get around that ever since, one step at a time.
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