California Safety Committees (Assembly/Senate) report 4/13/04:

[Jim March]

California Safety Committees (Assembly/Senate) report 4/13/04:

Prepared by:
Citizen’s Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms
Jim March – California Field Rep, 916-370-0347 / [email protected]

Bills HEARD in the Senate Public Safety Committee:

SB1173 (Speier) Cow Palace gun show ban. Serious collision. Didn’t pass yet, but because Vasconcellos wasn’t present, will be up for automatic re-vote with no public testimony allowed in one week. WHAT TO DO: McPherson very grudgingly withheld a “yes†vote, which is the same as a “noâ€. It needs four to pass, three "no" or "abstain" kills it. Margett was on our side from the get-go (voted outright “noâ€). Burton, Sher and Romero are all probably going to vote “yesâ€. It’s all going to come down to Vasconcellos, who wasn’t present. It is CRITICAL that he gets very polite “please vote “no†on AB1173, as Cal-DOJ says there’s no problems†messages. ALSO critical that McPherson gets thank-yous - he's a bit wobbly, but on our side for now. Thanking Margett won’t hurt, and neither will letters against the bill to Burton/Sher/Romero. CONTACT INFO for all these folks, go here, scroll all the way down to the bottom of: http://www.equalccw.com/2004bills.html - calls, faxes, Emails, smoke signals, whatever. (NOTE!: Cal-DOJ is “officially neutral†but within that limit probably placed on him, Randy Rossi of the Cal-DOJ Firearms Division did a fantastic job of outlining how “illegal gun sales†have been completely cleaned up in an effort that began in 2000. If Vasconcellos goes our way, this will be a major factor.)

SB1152 (Scott) – Forces dealers to record ammo sales. Basically the exact same situation as SB1173 – focus hard on Vasconcellos and McPherson.

Bills HEARD in the Assembly Public Safety Committee:

AB2858 (Ridley-Thomas) - 5% tax on all handguns, 10% tax on all ammo, "pay for victims of gun violence". Hadn’t passes when testimony was heard (around 3:00pm) but they probably have the votes to pass it today. This committee is going to pass it, but we’re not toast yet. There’s a chance to kill it in the budget committee hearing (check watchlist for schedules). Last year, the prior version was killed off in the main Assembly floor vote, as central valley Democrats such as Dean Florez (Kern/Kings Counties) balked. This is probably what’ll happen this year. Failing that, I have my doubts as to Vasconcellos passing it and that would give us Vasc./McPherson/Margett in Senate Safety. What to do: contact your Assembly rep, ask for their “NO†vote on AB2858. (Assembly contact info: http://www.assembly.ca.gov/defaulttext.asp under "find my district".)

A LOT of bills got pulled by the authors for adjustments or possibly outright dead. Bills not heard at all include:

AB2828 (Cohn): this is the Irwin Nowick “ban open carry of unloaded handguns†bill (finally talked to him, that’s what he’s up to). It’s in re-write. He’s trying to figure out a solution for parades/exhibitions that doesn’t involve a new class of “CCW†permit for unloaded open-carry handguns. Hmmmm. I’ll withhold further comment until we see it.

AB2308 (Richman) – New felony for prior felons to ATTEMPT a gun purchase. Dunno why it was pulled or what’ll happen next.

SB 1140 – Massive new penalties for “unsafe†firearms storage (child accessibility). Scott was there on other bills, yanked this one. I’m guessing it’s in re-write?

This will all get added to the watchlist tonight:

http://www.equalccw.com/2004bills.html

 

[Standing Wolf]

AB2858 (Ridley-Thomas) - 5% tax on all handguns, 10% tax on all ammo, "pay for victims of gun violence".

This is an annual ritual, right? First it was a nickel a round, then a dime a round, now a flat percentage, and next year, it'll be...

 

[Pendragon]

frankly, from a strategic standpoint, it might be better to get the 5%/10% bill above than the $0.10 per round/component that Perata was proposing.

yes, it would really suck, but the reality is, they are probably going to get some kind of tax passed eventually.

Paying an extra $1.00-$1.50 per box of pistol ammo is WAY better than paying the $0.10 x 50 = $5.00 tax per box - which would actually be $50 for a box of .22

It might be worth it for a pro gun person to negotiate passage with an exemption for rimfire ammo - since this is mostly for sporting/hunting/pest control/youth, etc.

I know its anathema - but they are going to try it every year until it happens - anyway, I am in TX now and it does not really affect me. From a pure rights standpoint, its wrong, but it may be better to get a slap on the wrist than a 2x4 to the head which is what the $0.10 per round tax would be.

 

[Jim March]

Except that, there are enough Democrats in "somewhat gunnie" areas to fight this.

We'll fight it from now until the heat death of the universe.

 

[jnojr]

...and, once an "ammo tax" is in, I'll bet it would be easy for them to raise it. Once the government has its claws into your money, you can't ever get them out... they sink deeper and deeper the more you struggle.

 

[artherd]

It might be worth it for a pro gun person to negotiate passage with an exemption for rimfire ammo - since this is mostly for sporting/hunting/pest control/youth, etc.

Only if you want to ignore facts. Something like 60% of all homocides occur with .22LR.

 

[flatrock]

Only if you want to ignore facts. Something like 60% of all homocides occur with .22LR.

The whole bill is already ignoring the facts.

How many rounds of ammo are purchased in the state during a year?

What percentage of them are being used in crimes?

This is a tax on leagal gun use.

It hits hunters and those that take the responsibility of practicing with their weapons to be able to use them safely.

The law is premised on a false cause and effect. Unfortunately most of the public will never hear those facts, because the media isn't interested in reporting those facts.

 

[Pendragon]

I hope you are right Jim.