California’s restrictive gun-control ballot initiative—Proposition 63—would not effectively reduce violent crime, but would unfairly burden law-abiding gun owners, according to state’s police chiefs.
The California Police Chiefs Association has announced its opposition to Proposition 63, saying it “fails to meet the appropriate balance between public safety and individual gun rights.”
“Essentially, Proposition 63 complicates current law with one that is costlier and seriously flawed,” wrote Ventura Police Chief Ken Corney, president of the association.
Corney believes that the provision that makes failure to report a firearm theft a crime is particularly onerous and counterproductive. “Penalizing the failure to report lost and stolen firearms actually can deter individuals to report for fear of penalty, which has already been proven to be the case in many areas where local governments have enacted similar ordinances,” he wrote.
