Democrats Look To California Gun Laws As Model For Nation to Follow

by
at President, NRA posted on August 25, 2016
** When you buy products through the links on our site, we may earn a commission that supports NRA's mission to protect, preserve and defend the Second Amendment. **
cors-presidents-column.jpg (7)
Michael Ives
This feature appears in the September ‘16 issue of NRA America’s 1st Freedom, one of the official journals of the National Rifle Association.

If you want a horrifying glimpse of what a Hillary Clinton one-party-majority federal government would look like were gun-ban Democrats to take control of the three branches of government after the coming November elections—look no further than California.

With total control of the legislative, executive and judicial branches by extremist gun-banners, there is a nonstop war of attrition on the rights of California firearm owners, with the ultimate goal of eradicating the Second Amendment.

In July, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a legislative package into law that, in essence, creates whole classes of criminals out of good, peaceable citizens. 

An example of this insanity: When the state previously banned any form of transfer of magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds, ownership of existing magazines was grandfathered. The final step has now been taken with a ban on possession with criminal penalties. As always, the gun-ban crowd’s word is only good until the next lie. As always, the gun-ban crowd’s word is only good until the next lie.

I know people who might say, “Hey, this is just California.” I tell them, “Don’t ever make that mistake.” 

In the dream world of Hillary Clinton and her ilk, California is the roadmap for the nation’s future. 

That message is best spelled out in a July 15, 2016, article on usnews.com, headlined, “California could be a model for restricting gun ownership nationwide.”

The story begins, “When California Gov. Jerry Brown enacted a sweeping package of gun ownership restrictions this month, including an assault-weapons ban and background checks for bullets, gun-control advocates hailed a legislative victory that’s been impossible at the national level.” 

“California’s template is now in progressives’ playbook, and new laws could be coming soon to a blue (or purple) state near you,” predicts U.S. News. 

The article extensively quotes Josh Horwitz, executive director of Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. He explains California’s huge swing in demographics—“including a more liberal culture and an influx of immigrants who didn’t grow up in the U.S.’s gun-loving society”—as the key. 

That could be the nation’s future—without borders.

“As much as I’d like to have a 50-state system like in California,” Horwitz said, “in most states we’re working on rudiments like quality background checks.” 

Rudiments? With that word, Horwitz defines the true purpose of “universal” background checks as a foundation for a California model across the nation. 

The legislation signed into law by Brown is just part of a larger ballot initiative that will go before voters on Nov. 8 that includes a host of gun control measures, including forced surrender of firearms, point-of-sale background checks on ammunition and its own provision to ban and confiscate magazines that hold more than 10 rounds. This is star-chamber power better suited for Soviet Russia. 

Horwitz bragged, “California has done a number of things to make it very hard for the gun lobby to muck up the system.” “California’s template is now in progressives’ playbook, and new laws could be coming soon to a blue (or purple) state near you,” predicts U.S. News.

The NRA didn’t muck up the system. That distinction belongs to Horwitz’s Alice-in-Wonderland process that brought the legislation to Gov. Moonbeam’s desk. They cheated, pure and simple. Among other tricks, the gun-banners did a bait-and-switch using legislation already in the process. “An act to create the Kings River East Groundwater Sustainability Agency” was gutted and transformed into “An act to amend ... the Penal Code, relating to firearms.” It was moved immediately with no due deliberation. 

All of this usurpation of an open process was accomplished in an atmosphere of hatred for gun owners and the NRA that we have never before witnessed. 

Soon after July’s Florida attack, Democratic Assemblyman Evan Low (his name fits) told NRA-ILA State Liaison Dan Reid, “Less than 72 hours ago, 49 people were slain in a nightclub in Orlando.  ... The reason they were murdered was because of your organization.” 

But the worst was yet to come during the California Senate hearings when State Sen. Isadore Hall called a panel of pro-Second Amendment witnesses “vicious people ...  protecting these vicious murderers that are terrorizing our streets.” 

 “And I’m not ashamed to stand up and tell these crazy, vicious, heartless individuals … they need to wash their mouths because they are filthy and their attitudes demonstrate filth when they come to this committee and say that these bills will not save a life.” 

Is this disgusting behavior—attacking witnesses, cheating the rules and shutting out public debate—the future of our democracy in Clinton’s America? I fear so, unless we can prevent a sweep by Clinton Democrats that would begin a radical Californization of our good nation. 

As NRA members, we have changed the course of history in the past. With Second Amendment champion Donald J. Trump in the White House and firm Second Amendment majorities in the U.S. House and Senate, we can save the Second Amendment, save America, and save liberty for the future of our country.

Latest

House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Jason Smith
House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Jason Smith

The Greatest Second Amendment Victory in a Century

On July 4, 2025, Americans celebrated not only our nation’s independence, but also the restoration of our constitutional Second Amendment rights becoming unconstrained by burdensome and arbitrary fees.

Opening Salvo | More Evidence That Gun-Control Groups are Freaking Out

With the Trump administration’s law-and-order push showing America’s crime problem is clearly not the fault of lawfully armed citizens, gun-control groups are freaking out.

John Rich has a Song for Armed Citizens

John Rich's latest song is "The Righteous Hunter." It is a moving tune about standing up to stop those with evil intentions. It is a song for lawfully armed citizens.

This Department of Education Grant Could Change Things

The University of Wyoming’s Firearms Research Center has been awarded a nearly $1 million grant by the U.S. Department of Education to develop a nationwide program on the origins, meaning and implications of the Second Amendment.

From the Editor | Charlie Kirk Lived for Freedom

“Give me liberty, or give me death,” are the immortal words of Patrick Henry spoken on March 23, 1775, to the Second Virginia Convention in Richmond, Va. His impassioned words were a call to arms against British tyranny.  

Ninth Circuit to Revisit Background Checks on Ammo Case

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has granted rehearing en banc in Rhode v. Bonta—a case backed by the National Rifle Association and California Rifle and Pistol Association. 

Interests



Get the best of America's 1st Freedom delivered to your inbox.