Free Republic

California residents will be voting tomorrow on a measure that would require individuals to purchase a permit to but bullets and for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to regulate the purchases. The measure, Proposition 63, would require individuals to pay up to $50 for an ammunition purchase authorization permit in order to buy ammunition. […] Proposition 63 also adds new felony charges for stealing firearms, broadens a ban on large capacity magazines and requires ammunition dealers to purchase a license each year in order to sell bullets, among other requirements. …

Singer Barbra Streisand has sent an email in support of California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Proposition 63, requesting $5 donations “to defeat the National Rifle Association” (NRA). Streisand pointed to the 1993 Long Island Railroad shooting to explain her support for more gun control. According to the Sacramento Bee, Streisand’s email said, “Like you, California is my home, and I can’t just wait around hoping tragedy doesn’t strike our state again. If there’s something we can do that will stop innocent Californians from being shot and killed, I will do everything I can to see it done.”

In 2004, voters narrowly approved Proposition 63, the Mental Heath Services Act (MHSA), which imposed an additional 1% tax on personal income above $1 million. The funds generated from this “millionaire’s tax” were intended to expand county mental health programs. Taxpayer and business groups opposed the measure for a couple of obvious reasons. First, California is already a high tax, high spending state that didn’t need any more revenue. Second, as we predicted, Prop 63 would exacerbate California’s income tax volatility. Although the final vote for Proposition 63 was tallied more than four years ago, evidence suggests that California’s most...