On Friday, less than three weeks after the deadly Orlando terror attack, California Gov. Jerry Brown delivered a major blow to California gun owners when he signed six of the so-called “Gunpocalypse” bills into law. Because the activities ostensibly targeted by this bill are already illegal under state and federal laws, and criminals in the future aren’t expected to care any more than they have in the past, this move can only be seen as a direct blow to the state’s Second Amendment rights.
NRA-ILA California spokesperson Amy Hunter, who called the bills “a draconian gun-control package that turns California’s law-abiding gun owners into second-class citizens,” took the state’s elected officials to task over their use of both the recent tragedy and December’s attack in San Bernardino to help ramrod through their gun-control agenda.
“The governor and legislature exploited a terrorist attack to push these measures through, even though the state’s already restrictive laws did nothing to stop the attack in San Bernardino," she said.
Despite his claim of wanting to “protect the rights of law-abiding gun owners,” Brown signed:
-A.B.1135/S.B.880, which will reclassify hundreds of thousands of legally owned semi-automatic rifles as “assault weapons”;
-A.B.1511, which will effectively end the practice of temporarily loaning a firearm to anyone other than a family member without going through a dealer;
-S.B.1235, which will mandate registration of ammunition purchases; and
-S.B.1446, which will ban the possession of ammunition feeding devices/magazines that are capable of holding more than 10 cartridges.
While bills redefining “firearms” to include unfinished frames/receivers; significantly expanding who’s eligible to seek a Gun Violence Restraining Order; mandating crime victims report theft of a firearm within five days; and expanding the one-gun-a-month law to all guns were vetoed, the impact on California’s gun owners of the laws that were signed will enormous and cannot be overstated.
“These bills make no one safer; they only add another layer of laws that criminals will continue to break. The National Rifle Association is prepared to pursue all options moving forward—legal, legislative and political,” Hunter said.
