Firearms Policy Coalition Condemns “Gut-and-Amend” Gun Control Measures
Sacramento, CA -(AmmoLand.com)- On Thursday, May 5, Senate and Assembly Democrats skirted the legislative process by “gutting and amending” 5 Assembly bills currently in the Senate, converting 4 of them into anti-gun measures.
“Gutting and amending” is the controversial practice of stripping out a measure’s contents and replacing it with entirely new language, for a new issue, well into the legislative process. In this case, they used measures that had been abandoned by former Assembly member Henry Perea (D- Fresno) when he resigned his office to take a position as the senior director of state advocacy for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
“This is an abuse of the legislative process,” said Craig DeLuz, legislative advocate for Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC). “There are already dozens of anti-gun bills making their way through the legislature,” he continued, “Lt. Governor Newsom is pushing an outrageous initiative in order to get his name in the press as a springboard to higher office, and now we have a coordinated effort to gut and amend bills designed to harass some of the most law abiding residents in the state.”
Belonging to former Assembly member Perea, the gut-and-amend bills are:
- AB 156: Formerly dealt with global warming, but now places restrictions on ammunition and will be authored by Asm. Kevin McCarty and Sen. Kevin de León.
- AB 857: Formerly addressed greenhouse gasses, but now restricts curios, relics, and home-built firearms. It will be authored my Asm. Jim Cooper and Sen. Kevin de Leon.
- AB 1135: Formerly centered around creating the Kings River East Groundwater Sustainability Agency, but is now a broad gun ban. This will now be authored by Assembly members Marc Levine and Phil Ting.
- AB 1176: Formerly dealt with vehicular air pollution, but now reverses components of Proposition 47 and will be authored by Asm. Jim Cooper.
- AB 1511: Formerly dealt with energy conservation, but now criminalizes loaning firearms. It is now authored by Asm. Miguel Santiago.
“It is shameful legislative leadership would invoke such extraordinary procedures just to shove more anti-civil rights legislation into an already overflowing hopper. I think people would be hard pressed to find another group that is as persecuted politically, and legislatively, as are those who practice their Second Amendment rights,” DeLuz continued.
Four of the gut-and-amend measures are already navigating the legislature, however, by placing the language into measures that already crossed from one house to the next, it can speed up the process.
“Gun owners are getting fed up with being used as political fodder and springboards to higher office. We are not second class citizens, and will not accept second class rights,” concluded DeLuz.
About the Firearms Policy Coalition:
Firearms Policy Coalition is a grassroots 501(c)4 nonprofit public benefit organization. FPC’s mission is to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, especially the fundamental, individual Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.
For more information, visit: www.firearmspolicy.org.
I know Mr Deluz means well but it is over in CA and the only options firearms owners have is to leave or give ’em up. You can’t revolt unless the whole country revolts and I don’t see that happening. I am making other plans for when hildabeast wins the election and bans all weapons.
The tyrannical libtards have taken over CA and their entire firearms prohibition agenda is unconstitutional. It is therefore an act of treason. That single fact gives Californians the right to arrest, try, convict and hang ALL of the usurpers responsible for depriving y’all of your “secured” Second Amendment (2A) right under Article 18, USC, Secs. 241 & 242, since the Heller decision confirmed that the right to ‘keep (own) and bear (carry) arms’ is a “fundamental” right protected by the U.S. Constitution. Because I hold my 2A right so zealously, if I still lived in CA I’d be the first… Read more »
MADD sucks! THEY DO WANT PROHIBITION. The FOUNDER of MADD wants nothing to do with them. The act of “driving drunk” is a thought crime.
The legislature of California has run amok. This is how revolutions start.
Mothers Against Drunk Drivers or MADD did a fantastic job of reducing drunk driving accidents. They did not try to reinstate prohibition, tax certain beverages, or limit how many beers a person could have in their ice chest. Their main tactic was to show up at the courtroom to make sure that the person received the maximum penalty for the crime and that judges and prosecutors were not lenient. It worked! If these people would just do this with the laws on the books they could stop a whole lot of gun crime. But for actors and politicians this would… Read more »