Send these guys some info from Gun Facts version 3.2, 2002. They have been printing a lot of pro-gun letters in response to articles like this one.
Letters to the Editor: [email protected]
Reader's Representative: [email protected]
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Amid slew of bills, Assembly OKs curb on sniper rifle sales
By James P. Sweeney
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
June 5, 2003
SACRAMENTO – A measure to restrict new sales of a high-powered, long-range rifle that has been portrayed as an ideal sniper weapon cleared the Assembly with ease yesterday.
Meanwhile, lawmakers passed a flurry of other bills, including a measure allowing illegal immigrants to earn driver's licenses – similar to a bill vetoed by Gov. Gray Davis last year.
Other measures approved seek to rein in spiraling costs in the workers' compensation system, establish universal health care for all Californians and grant amnesty to owners of ferrets, which are currently illegal pets in the state.
Both the Assembly and Senate were rushing to meet a deadline tomorrow to pass bills out of the house of origin. All passed measures now will be considered in the other house.
The 42-26 vote on the gun bill illustrated a growing liberal tilt in the Assembly, which historically has been a gun-control battleground, as well as concerns about terrorism.
A year ago, a nearly identical bill carried by the same author, Assemblyman Paul Koretz, D-West Hollywood, was defeated in committee.
AB 50, aimed at .50-caliber BMG rifles, also is expected to move through the Senate unless it becomes entangled in political strategy to avert a recall of Gov. Gray Davis.
The Democratic governor already has signed a raft of new gun laws and the Legislature's Democratic leadership may not want to do anything more to inspire gun-rights enthusiasts to vote if a recall election qualifies for the ballot.
Koretz's bill would extend the state's assault weapons ban to a group of .50-caliber rifles not already covered by the law. Most are single-shot, bolt-action models. More than 100 .50-caliber semiautomatics already are considered assault weapons under the California law.
Assault weapons must be registered in California and new sales are prohibited without express permission from the attorney general.
The .50-caliber BMGs weigh up to 60 pounds and fire rounds up to 6 inches long, according to a legislative analysis. They can hit targets more than a mile away, according to the analysis, and reportedly can penetrate military personnel carriers from 2,000 yards.
The Branch Davidian sect had .50-caliber weapons at Waco in 1993, and the guns have been linked to drug cartels, militia groups and terrorists.
But, while .50-calibers have been associated with one attack on an armored car in Georgia, they apparently have yet to be involved in a crime in California.
"Why that would make us comfortable, I don't know," Koretz said. "The Irish Republican Army has used these to assassinate people. The potential is too great."
The state Attorney General's Office estimates there may be 3,600 such guns in California. John Burtt, chairman of a .50-caliber shooters association, said the group has several thousand past and present members in the state.
"We've been shooting these target rifles in competition for over 20 years," Burtt said. "They are just not the weapon of choice for a criminal or they would have been used prior to this."
Meanwhile, consumer advocates blamed two Democratic lawmakers yesterday for the failure of a bill banning corporations that commit three felonies in a 10-year period from doing business in the state, according to the Associated Press.
Sens. Debra Bowen, D-Marina del Rey, and Jackie Speier, D-Daly City, failed to vote for a bill that was defeated in the Senate Appropriations Committee. Speier said she liked parts of the bill but considered other sections "overly broad."
Copyright 2003 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Letters to the Editor: [email protected]
Reader's Representative: [email protected]
========================
Amid slew of bills, Assembly OKs curb on sniper rifle sales
By James P. Sweeney
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
June 5, 2003
SACRAMENTO – A measure to restrict new sales of a high-powered, long-range rifle that has been portrayed as an ideal sniper weapon cleared the Assembly with ease yesterday.
Meanwhile, lawmakers passed a flurry of other bills, including a measure allowing illegal immigrants to earn driver's licenses – similar to a bill vetoed by Gov. Gray Davis last year.
Other measures approved seek to rein in spiraling costs in the workers' compensation system, establish universal health care for all Californians and grant amnesty to owners of ferrets, which are currently illegal pets in the state.
Both the Assembly and Senate were rushing to meet a deadline tomorrow to pass bills out of the house of origin. All passed measures now will be considered in the other house.
The 42-26 vote on the gun bill illustrated a growing liberal tilt in the Assembly, which historically has been a gun-control battleground, as well as concerns about terrorism.
A year ago, a nearly identical bill carried by the same author, Assemblyman Paul Koretz, D-West Hollywood, was defeated in committee.
AB 50, aimed at .50-caliber BMG rifles, also is expected to move through the Senate unless it becomes entangled in political strategy to avert a recall of Gov. Gray Davis.
The Democratic governor already has signed a raft of new gun laws and the Legislature's Democratic leadership may not want to do anything more to inspire gun-rights enthusiasts to vote if a recall election qualifies for the ballot.
Koretz's bill would extend the state's assault weapons ban to a group of .50-caliber rifles not already covered by the law. Most are single-shot, bolt-action models. More than 100 .50-caliber semiautomatics already are considered assault weapons under the California law.
Assault weapons must be registered in California and new sales are prohibited without express permission from the attorney general.
The .50-caliber BMGs weigh up to 60 pounds and fire rounds up to 6 inches long, according to a legislative analysis. They can hit targets more than a mile away, according to the analysis, and reportedly can penetrate military personnel carriers from 2,000 yards.
The Branch Davidian sect had .50-caliber weapons at Waco in 1993, and the guns have been linked to drug cartels, militia groups and terrorists.
But, while .50-calibers have been associated with one attack on an armored car in Georgia, they apparently have yet to be involved in a crime in California.
"Why that would make us comfortable, I don't know," Koretz said. "The Irish Republican Army has used these to assassinate people. The potential is too great."
The state Attorney General's Office estimates there may be 3,600 such guns in California. John Burtt, chairman of a .50-caliber shooters association, said the group has several thousand past and present members in the state.
"We've been shooting these target rifles in competition for over 20 years," Burtt said. "They are just not the weapon of choice for a criminal or they would have been used prior to this."
Meanwhile, consumer advocates blamed two Democratic lawmakers yesterday for the failure of a bill banning corporations that commit three felonies in a 10-year period from doing business in the state, according to the Associated Press.
Sens. Debra Bowen, D-Marina del Rey, and Jackie Speier, D-Daly City, failed to vote for a bill that was defeated in the Senate Appropriations Committee. Speier said she liked parts of the bill but considered other sections "overly broad."
Copyright 2003 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
