Countdown to Gun, Magazine & Ammo Confiscation in California : 4…3…2…1

With only Four Days Left in the 2013 Legislative Session, California Gun Owners Must Remain Vigilant.
By: Clint B. Monfort

Circuit Judge sporting arm with the vilified Street Sweeper
Circuit Judge sporting arm with the vilified Street Sweeper, California Democrat politicians can’t tell the difference between each.
CalGunLaws.com
CalGunLaws.com

San Diego, CA –-(Ammoland.com)- The warnings were real.

They are now coming for your guns, your magazines, your money, and your home protection. I’m somewhat surprised they are not after your blood, though indirectly they are.

In a move that should have surprised no one, a gaggle of California’s elite (or should I say elitist) legislators dumped a stack of gun control bills into the legislative hopper this session. Together these bills seek to ban detachable magazine rifles (period), ban and confiscate existing factory magazines with capacities greater than ten rounds (period), ban traditional hunting ammunition, ban mail order sales of all ammunition, and require government approval to buy any ammunition at all.

I’ll break down this insanity in a minute, but ponder for a moment how these laws will affect your average gang member. Thinking … thinking … I couldn’t come up with anything, either.

Not letting a good crisis go to waste, senators mainly from urban areas where guns laws have largely disarmed the public (though not the criminals) dropped a slew of new proposals this year that are designed to completely eliminate some of your rights while chiseling away at the core of the Second Amendment by making exercising your rights excessively burdensome. If passed, there will be confiscations (according to the Senator from Oakland), you will jump dog-like through legal hoops to own a handgun (proclaims the Senator from San Diego) and you will have to say goodbye to your hunting rifles (commandeth the Senator from Sacramento).

Let’s review the worst of the bunch, though nearly nothing in the stack of proposed legislation can be considered “good.”

The Senate’s President (Pro-Tem) Steinberg has authored a bill to eliminate the future sale, purchase, manufacture, importation and possession of semi-automatic rifles that can accept detachable magazines. No more mini-14s, no more ARs, no more M1s, and say goodbye to your Remington 750 for deer hunting. Naturally, Steinberg blames the “gun industry” for “[flooding] our communities with rapid-reload battlefield weapons.” None of Steinberg’s biographies note military service, so perhaps he can be forgiven for not knowing a hunting rifle from a soldier’s best friend. Steinberg’s demonstrable ignorance aside, the goal is clear – if it is a rifle and has a detachable magazine, then forget about owning one.

Seemingly not to be outdone, Oakland-area Senator Loni Hancock is pushing to ban your standard capacity magazines that hold more than ten rounds – anything over that, and any kits that facilitate the expansion of the magazine size will be banned. During the Senators’ gang-like press conference earlier this year, Hancock bluntly stated that the law would require outright confiscation of all such magazines. It must have escaped her observation, but street criminals (mainly gang members and the ones responsible for most Oakland homicides) prefer revolvers and smaller capacity 9mm pistols due to their concealability. Amusingly, instead of showcasing California criminals, Senate press materials used Tucson lunatic Jared Loughner as their bogus bogyman. You would think that being from Oakland she could find more locally-relevant material.

Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson from the otherwise pleasant town of Santa Barbara wants to redefine firearms in general by inventing the “assault shotguns” classification. Jackson wants to add more shotguns to the list of “bad” guns, despite these firearms rarely being used in homicides. If your shotgun uses a cylinder instead of a tube to store shells, prepare to surrender it, even if both firearms have the same capacity. If you track and hunt with a combo rifle/shotgun, tell your kids they won’t have the privilege to inherit yours. In the same effluvium stream of press fodder, senators specifically equated the “Circuit Judge” sporting arm with the vilified “Street Sweeper”. Somehow the similarity is illusive to everyone outside of Loni’s chambers.

San Diego’s Senator, Marty Block, doubled down. Marty intends to put you through extended safety training to purchase a rifle, further expanding the time between obtaining a self-defense firearm and confronting an attacker. The training is allegedly for safety, but according to the Center For Disease Control – the official mortality statisticians – firearm accidents now rank at the bottom of accidental deaths (odds are that more children die in San Diego swimming pools than from gun accidents given that in the last CDC reporting year 64 California kids drowned while only 62 kids across the entire United States we accidentally shot).

Not content to make it difficult to acquire a handgun, Marty wants to make lending your gun to someone for self-defense virtually impossible. His legislation makes it illegal to loan gun in many common situations. When your daughter is being harassed by her estranged husband, but faces a training demonstration requirement before she can lawfully possess it, you won’t be allowed to lend her your spare revolver, despite the fact that you taught your daughter to shoot and taught her gun safety as well. But Marty insists he is looking out for her.

Sadly, there is more. But the battle lines have been drawn. Given their way, you will have to climb legal mountains to protect your family, be licensed to buy ammo should you actually obtain a gun, and forfeit your rifles and shotguns once the definition of “assault weapon” is stretched beyond all rationality.

This week marks the final week of the 2013 legislative session. In addition to these ill-conceived proposals, several other anti-gun bills and anti-hunting bills with serious consequences for gun owners, sportsmen and Second Amendment supporters are awaiting their final vote on the floors of the state Senate and Assembly. These misguided anti-gun/anti-hunting bills could be up for a final vote any day this week. For a complete list of bills requiring immediate action, and information on how to contact your representatives, click here.

The deadline for each bill to have finally passed both houses of the California legislature is September 13. Bills that make it out of the legislature on or before that date will then move to Governor Brown’s desk, and he will have until October 13 2013 to sign or veto each bill. Bills that are signed into law will become operative on January 1, 2014, unless a later date is specified in the law.

For now, gun owners must continue to call, write, fax, and e-mail their legislative representatives. Flooding legislative offices with phone calls and written letters is particularly effective. If you have already written a letter on each bill, consider writing another.

After September 13, it will then be time to put pressure on the Governor to veto the anti-gun bills that have made it through the legislature. Although it has been rumored that the Democrats have a “supermajority” that will allow them to over-ride a veto, the number of rural, pro-gun democrats should prevent this, so veto requests will be critical. Governor Brown has been quoted as saying he “isn’t that bad on guns.” It will soon be time for all California gun owners to contact the Governor and remind him that it is time to make good on that statement.

Together, gun rights advocates and grassroots California gun owners can defeat these attacks on law-abiding gun owners. We will defeat as many bills as possible in the legislature. We will call on the Governor to veto proposals that reach his desk. And we will take to the courts to overturn proposals that are passed.

This is the battle they have wanted. This is the battle they must lose. Now is the time to remain focused and redouble our efforts.

About the Author:
Clint Monfort is an attorney at Michel and Associates, PC who specializes in firearms law, constitutional law, and civil rights litigation. Mr. Monfort also serves as a legislative analyst and consultant for the California lobbying arm of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action.

About:
CalGunLaws.com is an online research resource designed primarily for use by attorneys and interested firearm owners. CalGunLaws.com strives to provide easy access to and facilitate understanding of the multitude of complex federal, state, and local firearm laws and ordinances, administrative and executive regulations, case law, and past and current litigation that defines the California firearms regulatory scheme in theory and practice. CalGunLaws.com is designed and organized to make it easy to research the law and to locate source materials and related information. All of the articles are cross referenced. Note the two sections on the right: Related Items and Related Law. Related Items will take you to any article related to the one you are currently viewing. Related law takes you to the related law and statutes for the item you are looking at.

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When all else fails, vote from the rooftop

To any police or law enforcement in the state of california. Feel free to knock on my door and demand that I surrender my right to keep and bear arms. I guarantee you I will lose. In the end you the government will kill me, but I also affirm I will open fire on you. Patriots like me will make you the government think twice of confiscating weapons. Patriots like me will make you the government fall back on the constitution of the United free States of America. Its “WE THE PEOPLE” of the UNITED STATES of AMERICA that are… Read more »

Patriot

Apparently California politicians are dedicated to making the citizens Subjects and victims of criminals. I say we vote California out of the USA – forced Secession!

If they don’t believe in or abide by our Constitution, they shouldn’t receive any American tax money or help, and they sure as hell shouldn’t be allowed to freely cross the border into our country!!!

Jim

Power corrupts, absolute power such as a super majority corrupts absolutely. We have old fools and a couple of asian asses in our senate that have no leadership qualities. NRA we need your help. Please don’t leave us alone on this.

Joe

How about more accurate reporting by including bill numbers?

Just Saying

The US is following California down the tubes… I’m a firm believer in knowing house-hold chemicals in proper proportions… If you don’t have one of the military’s Improvised Munitions Handbooks, you should get some of them – via torrent. Use a VPN so they can’t track you, and remember – with a cold metal lathe, they can say something is illegal, but you can make anything for your own use, guns, and pretty much everything else. They can’t stop you – but they will try…

Uzziel

Failing to understand why Californians aren’t shooting, yet.

Dave L.

Proud to be from Missouri, we fight back here against this type of Government, what a bunch of Idiot’s, California has always had fool’s and foolish ideas that generally contaminate other parts of the country. Berkeley for instance, an Elitist think tank at best. Line these fools up and not one of them would be fit for hiring in the private sector! Dumb Ass’s at best. Of all of GOD’S wonderful works how did these beings get created- I don’t understand the plan really. Dave L.

Dave

There is only one law regarding guns, and it’s the second amendment! All other laws are null and void if they try to supersede the first law! That is the Constitution of the United States! Period!

dave

The F’ing LIBERALS have DESTROYED the once “golden state”. Thanks to Cal. COMMIE Lagislature and Governor, illegals have changed the stats demagraphics forever. I believe California is now OVER 50% NON white. Now, with these ANTI 2nd Ammendment laws, the honest citizens will soon be disarmed, and the GANGS will rule the streets. In my book, this is CRIMINAL stupidity by Cal Sate Gov !!!!!!!

Peter

Remaining vigilante will not help in the least. Getting off ones bum and protesting this invasion of rights will. When are firearm organizations going to learn you cannot persuade politics by being nice and asking nicely. The NRA the largest and richest lobby group is powerless on with its stupid policy to prevent gun control’s advancement. If your legislators reflect your unwillingness to protect your rights by infringing them you wanted that to happen as you have a duty and obligation to OBJECT do it. It’s not the NRA’s job, They are your rights, protect them. The NRA’s job it… Read more »

libsarescum

Time for every law abiding citizen to stock up and become an outlaw.

TTS

Well, shotguns ARE NOT assault weapons. The effective range is fairly limited. They are not a sniper weapon, but they are superior to anything else legal in the close quarters of your property. This is what the globalists hate. The globalists know a 12-gauge pump with the right load will stop an intruder or intruders dead in their tracks (even an intruder wearing armor) if used properly. Part of the problem with shotguns are the falsehoods about them propagated primarily through Hollywood. The average American not versed in firearms believes that you can’t miss, you can spray an entire wall,… Read more »

Brent

The above article illustrates the weaknesses in gun “rights” arguments as presented by the typical FUDD. The author does a poor job of arguing the pro-gun position because he couches everything in terms of hunting rifles = good; assault rifles = bad, and then seems to suggest that if the legislature were to limit their bans to non-hunting rifles, everything would be hunky dory. DUMB DUMB DUMB There are no principles being presented by the author. The real reason for gun ownership does not require justification for owning particular features on arms. The real reason for private gun ownership is… Read more »

cybro

You better get out of that state especially So Cal while you still can. If the power and water ever gets turned off you don’t want to be stuck there without some way to defend yourself. Even then I wouldn’t want to be there.

Fed up

A lot of GREAT ideas for California Gun control. I think it’s exactly what the citizens of this state want. We voted them into office and they are performing as promised! Keep up the good work!!

Rick

They are disarming the law biding citizens not the criminals! How on earth can they be so stupid?? Do the criminals go through the “proper” procedures to obtain a firearm? Jesus Christ! How stupid are they? This can cause a civil uprisings, or better yet more “illegal” guns gun smuggling etc . I cannot believe they are so stupid!

No Cal 4 Me

LOL @ windchime

California is broke, overrun by gangs and illegal immigrants. It has at least 5 of the highest crime cities in the top 25. Their highways are clogged, air polluted beyond safe levels and their water has been toxic for decades. Yet this is what their legislators spend their time and efforts on? The stupidity of it’s leaders and their herds of freeloading sheeples is appalling. Piss on all of em.

Chris

The very reason I no longer live there.
It used to be a great place to live and grow, but the politicians and the illegals have ruined it.
A damned shame.

Rob

They keep doing this because Californians haven’t given them a compelling reason not to. No legislator would DARE try any of this in Austin, because every single one knows he’d become a windchime before the week was out. Pretty compelling.