California Gun Owners Demand Temporary Restraining Order Against State’s Mass Surveillance Law

Spying Privacy Big Government Surveillance iStock-uzenzen 1175397475.jpg
Government Surveillance iStock-uzenzen

The Second Amendment Foundation and its partners in a federal lawsuit challenging California Penal Code § 26806 (SB 1384), have moved for a temporary restraining order to prevent the state from implementing this new Orwellian statute.

“On January 1, 2024, California will implement a mass surveillance regime designed to catalogue the faces, conversations, whereabouts, and shopping habits of millions of Californians engaged in constitutionally protected conduct.

This audiovisual recording scheme will operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year, without end. The private citizens commanded to implement this regime on California’s behalf will bear all the costs of constructing the state’s new Panopticon, which will penetrate thousands of private businesses and homes throughout the state. To call this prospect of perpetual government-mandated surveillance “Orwellian” is an understatement.

The law authorizing this egregious invasion of Californians’ constitutional rights is Cal. Penal Code § 26806 (SB 1384). Effective January 1, 2024, all dealers of firearms throughout the state will be required to install “permanent[]” and “fixed” cameras inside their premises, which must “continuously record 24 hours per day” all entrances, exits, firearm displays, and points of sale. § 26806(a)(2). These cameras must “clearly record images and … audio” to “allow for the clear identification of any person.” § 26806(a)(1), (2). Moreover, gun dealers must purchase, install, and subsequently maintain this surveillance infrastructure and its voluminous data at their own cost, “for a minimum of one year,” subject to state inspection, which may occur without limit. § 26806(a)(6). As Plaintiffs Complaint details, compliance is estimated to cost ordinary gun stores tens of thousands of dollars (each).

But to make matters worse, California additionally compels its newly commandeered camera operators to display a message of the state’s choosing on their properties(both commercial and residential): “THESE PREMISES ARE UNDER VIDEO AND AUDIO SURVEILLANCE. YOUR IMAGE AND CONVERSATIONS MAY BE RECORDED.” § 26806(c). Again, Section 26806 imposes its perpetual surveillance mandate on all gun dealers doing business in California”

SAF attorneys have also filed a memorandum of points and authorities supporting the motion, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

SAF is joined by the California Rifle & Pistol Association, Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners of California, the Gun Owners Foundation, On Target Indoor Shooting Range, Gaalswyk Enterprises and three private citizens. They are represented by attorneys C.D. Michel and Tiffany D. Cheufront, Michel & Associates in Long Beach, and Donald Kilmer, Kilmer Law Office in Idaho. Defendants in the case are California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Robert Bonta, in their official capacities.

The statute takes effect Jan. 1, 2024. The lawsuit contends its provisions violate the First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, and 14th Amendments, as well as the California State Constitution.

“Our motion for the TRO is direct and to the point,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “We believe it is imperative to prevent this law from being implemented because of the serious constitutional issues at stake.”

“The various tenets of Penal Code § 26806 amount to an egregious violation of several constitutional rights, including free speech, privacy and the right to keep and bear arms,” said SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut. “To impose what amounts to a mass surveillance regime in California is an afront to the rights of citizens across the state.”

SAF Move For TRO In Cal. Gun Dealer Surveillance Case by AmmoLand Shooting Sports News on Scribd


The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 720,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.

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Ledesma

This is exactly why California is driving out Americans. An alien population won’t mind a police state.

Ledesma

Precisely. That’s why the police states of the world will always need plenty of them!

Arizona

That’s why authoritarian globalists are trying to replace America’s citizens with illegals. They won’t fight back against the tyrants, and see anything as better than where they came from, especially with all the taxpayer funded handouts.

CBW

^^^ This ^^^

Shotsmith

Let’s identify every citizen who owns a gun, but let 8 million illegals across our border without knowing who they are.

And the stupid thing is, Ameican citizens will still vote for these politicians.

NEVER VOTE FOR A DEMOCRAT, AND CHOOSE YOUR CONSERVATIVES WISELY.

CBW

Is a tyrannical California legislator required to video and audio record every word he says when he is exercising his RIGHT to Free Speech? From multiple fixed cameras which record 24 hours a day that he must purchase, install and pay to maintain? Is he required to post a sign for the others nearby who are also exercising their Constitutional RIGHT to Free Speech warning them that they are being recorded? If a liberal maniac is anything, he is a hucking fypocrit. If this is not absolute tyranny, what is? These people need to be stopped. They aren’t quitting on… Read more »

Last edited 4 months ago by CBW
Coelacanth

I left Cali in 1980, when I got fed up with half my paycheck being taken away by the government. Best move I ever made!

hasbeen

were you foolish enough to think fiber(optics) to the house was for your entertainment benefit? naa naa nanet. it gives the government the bandwidth needed to spy on you in you home via your smart appliances and ‘I” devices.
the got ya moment has arrived.

AZ Lefty

If you have bought a lottery ticket in CA this has occurred

California Uber Alles

That don’t make it right. I mean both the surveillance AND the states running lotteries.