By: Robert Davis
California’s Democratic Governor Jerry Brown signed a slew of gun control bills into law last week, making the already extremely restrictive state even more anti-gun.
Among the new regulations that will go into effect in January 2019 is a law that raises the age a person must be to buy a shotgun or rifle from 18 to 21. The provision exempts hunters with a valid license from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, law enforcement officers, and military members.
Brenden Boudreau, Director of Field Operations for the National Association of Gun Rights, told Gunpowder Magazine such laws “arbitrarily deny Second Amendment rights to millions of law-abiding citizens.”
But wait! There’s more. CNN reports:
Other gun measures signed into law last week by Brown will do the following:
— Ban anyone convicted of certain domestic violence misdemeanors from owning a firearm for life.
— Prevent people who have been hospitalized more than once in one year for mental health issues from owning a gun for life.
— Require people applying for concealed gun permits to get at least eight hours of gun safety training.
— Allow police to ask for a gun violence restraining order verbally when there’s not time to make a written request.
— Require all California law enforcement agencies to input information on lost or stolen guns into a state database within a week of the agency finding out the firearm was missing.
Stricter Gun Laws and Lawsuits
Past measures to tighten what many see as the country’s strictest gun laws have resulted in lawsuits against Brown’s administration.
The Sacramento Bee reported in July that gun owners sued California over its faulty assault weapons registration system that was created following the state’s assault weapons ban. Thousands of law-abiding gun owners could have been instantly labeled as felons because the website set up for them to register their weapons malfunctioned and was not fixed before the deadline to register. The case is currently set to be heard in federal court.
In June, the California Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit challenging a California law that requires identifying information to be printed on bullet casings.
“The court ruled unanimously that gun rights groups could not overturn the requirement by arguing it was impossible to comply with the law that supporters touted as a first in the nation,” The Washington Examiner reported at the time. “The groups argued that the technology did not exist, and a law could not mandate something that was not possible. Attorneys for the state acknowledged that microstamping technology is ‘emerging’ but said lawmakers often enact laws to force industries to innovate.”
Boudreau says “the court system vacillates on the gun rights issue, really depending on who appointed the judges,” and it’s “hard to tell one way or another how the court is going to rule on a Second Amendment case.
“Ultimately, this uncertainty is what encourages anti-gun politicians to continue to pass gun control, in spite of court challenges and the cost to taxpayers,” Boudreau said. “They know that if they get a favorable court, even the most ridiculous violations might stick and then will be implemented elsewhere because they have passed ‘constitutional muster.’”
Increased Ammo Control
Back in March, representatives in California’s state legislature proposed a measure to raise taxes on ammunition sales in order to pay to hire counselors and school resource officers in local schools.
This year alone, California has banned the delivery of ammunition to a buyer’s home address, outlawed importing ammunition purchased in another state, and in July 2019, will require people purchasing ammunition to undergo background checks.
“Such regulations, several of which have been enacted and take effect this year and next, are inspired by the view that the best way to limit gun violence is to approach it as a ‘bullet control’ problem,” The New York Times reports. “As Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a Democrat from New York, told the Senate 25 years ago, when he introduced legislation that would have imposed a 10,000-percent tax on hollow-tip ammunition, ‘guns don’t kill people; bullets do.’”
‘It’s about Exploiting Emotions’
Boudreau says the gun control lobby has no evidence to back up its claims that gun and ammo control makes society safer.
“Gun control is never about results,” Boudreau said. “It’s about exploiting emotions to use raw power to strip people of their rights. The pie in the sky results promised by gun control advocates never come true. Rather, quite often, gun control has the exact opposite intended impact, leading to higher crime rates instead of the lower crime rates that were promised.”
Robert Davis is a general assignment reporter for Gunpowder Magazine. Contact him with comments or tips at [email protected].
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