My worst post-election fears are seemingly coming to fruition. California lawmakers, with no opposition, are off an running with their anti-gun agenda and are likely going to turn me into a felon within six months.
For those that do not follow California politics closely, let me explain. During the last election, Democrats managed to take a veto proof super majority in both the state Assembly and Senate, as well as putting Gun Grabbing Gavin Newsom in the Governor’s chair.
December 3rd was the first day back in session for the California state legislature. On that very first day back, three gun control bills were introduced.
AB 18 – Firearms Excise Tax – by Marc Levine (D)
“This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that imposes an excise tax on the sales of handguns and semiautomatic rifles and would require the revenue collected from that tax to be used to fund grants through the CalVIP program.”
So the plan here is to tax the law abiding citizens as punishment for acts performed by criminals?
It is still very early in the life of this bill and at this date, they have not even set the proposed tax rate, but rest assured, CA lawmakers would never levy exorbitant taxes on the citizens without their consent. Oh, wait…
AB 61 – Gun Violence Restraining Orders – by Phil Ting (D)
California already has passed these very worrisome “gun violence restraining orders,” but current law apparently is too restrictive for lawmakers. Currently, only family members and law enforcement can file an ex parte (in other words, the accused is not even in court) petition to a court that enables law enforcement to forcibly remove guns from someone who legally owns them.
If you are a gun owner or a cop, or God forbid, a gun owner who is a cop, you are probably aware of the recent shooting in Maryland where cops went to a home to serve a gun violence restraining order and ended up shooting the gun owner. I am not faulting the cops in that situation because other than very generic information, I know nothing about the order or what occurred in that incident, but this is exactly the type of thing I predicted would happen when these laws started getting passed.
With all that in mind, apparently this is not good enough for the anti-gun liberal politicians in California because now that we have that law, it is time to start tweaking it to make it easier for just about anyone to go before a judge and get your guns taken away.
Here is the proposed change that this bill would enact. Bear in mind, currently only a family member or law enforcement can petition the court to have your guns removed.
“This bill would similarly authorize, an employer, a coworker, or an employee of a secondary or postsecondary school that the person has attended in the last 6 months to file a petition for an ex parte, one-year, or renewed gun violence restraining order.”
So now your boss, a coworker, or anyone who knows you from college can request that the state take your guns away. Why stop there? Why not open that list up to friends, neighbors, persons who live in the same state, or anyone on the planet who might not want you to have a gun?
AB 12 – Firearms: Gun violence and mental health – by Jacqui Irwin (D)
“This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation relating to gun violence and mental health.”
This is a veritable Pandora’s box in the making, because this bill does not say anything specific. This was an “ooh, ooh, let me be the first to get an anti-gun bill on the books even though I have no specific issue to address or any plan on how to address it” bill.
The text of the bill is merely an emotion tugging, anti-gun screed that says nothing more than “guns are bad.”
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1. The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the following:
(a) On November 7, 2018, in the city of Thousand Oaks, a tragic and senseless act of gun violence at the Borderline Bar & Grill resulted in the deaths of 12 Californians, including Sergeant Ronald Lee Helus of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office.
(b) This act of gun violence injured many others who fled the Borderline Bar & Grill and has deeply impacted the surrounding community that is known for its safety and low level of violent crime.
(c) It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation relating to gun violence and mental health, in an effort to prevent future acts of gun violence in California.
I really have no idea what the purpose of this bill is, other than to get another anti-gun bill on the books as early as possible.
Which brings me back to where I started, life in California just got very scary for law abiding gun owners. Not only are all the same Democrats coming after us, but now there is no one in place to stop them.