Bad Horizon For California Gun Rights

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Zoogster

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California gun laws likely to get worse.


In California partisan politics just took a serious shift.

The way it used to be done was the top two seperate party primary winners would face off. Typically a Republican and the top Democrat used to face off in districts to see who would win.
This would then allow some Republicans to still win victories when an election went thier way in a Democrat area if they could sway undecided voters and skate by on higher Republican turnout rates.
California passed a proposition that removed this. It was passed in 2010 and took effect in 2011. But the effects have needed time to be seen because of how long terms last.
This now pits the top two irregardless of party against eachother.
The result is that many elections in California will now be between two Democrats, and a Republican is not even a choice.
It was prop 14 in 2010:
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/California_Proposition_14,_Top_Two_Primaries_Act_(June_2010)



The districts were also previously drawn up in some places in a way that gave Democrats a majority in several districts, and Republicans a majority in one or two. Often by districting along an Urban/Rural divide.
That meant the primary rural Republicans had a representative for every several urban Democrat representatives in the state offices.
They just did away with that many places and redistricted. Now many lightly populated rural areas areas are attached to large urban areas.
The result is the Democrats now have far more districts because the cities always override the rural areas they are grouped with and elect a Democrat.

caldistrictmap.gif
(The funny thing about this is by area it looks like there is a lot of red, but districts are drawn by population, and the urban populations of most Democrats are very dense and so the districts often small.)

This reduce the number of Republicans in office in California, and the Democrats are projected to have a super majority for some time into the future.
Neither party has held a super majority since 1933, 80 years ago, and Democrats just got one this November. So all gun laws prior have had a harder time passing than they are likely to face from now on.
This is a new massive shift.
As it relates to firearms it is big because it has primarily been rural area representing Republicans that would reduce firearm restriction efforts, and they needed bi-partisan support to pass things.
With a super majority they need no bi-partisan support and can ignore Republicans altogether.

As a result of the new District lines and prop 14 rural voters' voices can be ignored entirely.
As a result California is likely to get a lot worse too.

This certainly is related to partisan politics, but it is more strongly related to the rural urban divide.
Rural voices just became a lot less vocal as many were attached to a section of urban cities with greater populations in new districts.
This means the rural voice typically reducing anti-gun efforts in California is less represented than before.
 
They certainly do, and they may have even reduced it in the redistricting by favoring Republicans less by no longer dividing along a Rural/Urban divide that insured they still got some seats instead of none in various areas.

However the impact on firearm rights as a result is still likely to be very real.
Whether it is a result of less or more gerrymandering.

They no longer even need to listen to Republicans, and they cannot even stall the process of legislation. The first super majority in 80 years is a huge thing.
At a time when some states are trying to outdo eachother in restrictions, and New York just moved a bit further in outdoing California in its latest legislation...
 
An abomination of a ban passed the New York Assembly with bipartisan support. Party affiliation is no guarantee. That said I shudder to think what might be passed here in California. Things are going to get ugly.
 
They tried this in AZ this year. It was beaten, but a hard fight. I'm sure it will come back in 2 years.
 
This is going to be truly interesting. The danger to a California citizen will be the LE officer who willingly carries out his master's bidding. I don't think too many will for the sake of principle give up large paychecks, generous civil service retirements, benefits, etc., when ordered by liberal elected Sheriff's and appointed police chief's to violate taxpayer's civil rights. interesting times we live in.
 
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