Jim March
Member
Well, this is a message I do NOT enjoy writing.
As some of you know, the California Department of Justice has made a number of mistakes with the handling of the new state-standard CCW application form and some other related “paperwork issues†they were tasked with dealing with under AB2022, an NRA supported bill that instituted a number of CCW reforms effective 1/1/99.
This year, Cal-DOJ is pushing a bill that would legalize the illegal actions Cal-DOJ has already been engaged in. They presented it to a Democrat legislator (Gloria Negrete McLeod) without telling her the full details of why they want it passed. In my view, Assemblywoman McLeod is in fact a victim here but as of this writing I’ve been unable to convince her staff, therefore I’m “going publicâ€.
At present, AB1044 is officially unopposed by anybody and sailing through the legislature; Ed Worley and company are officially neutral and Ed has explained that he actually wants it to pass. His stated reasoning is that it destroys some records on gun owners (the list of who’s been denied) but while that’s a theoretical “good thingâ€, AB1044 covers up so much “dirt†on CCW issuance that in my opinion, it’s not worth it.
Why would Ed not want to see CCW misconduct come to light?
Because the California State Sheriff’s Association has in the past helped us block various dumb gun bills including handgun registration and licensing, the “junk gun†bills and others. They’re now calling the favor: since Ed and others in the California NRA/CRPA network don’t think CCW reform is possible in the courts or legislature, they’re willing to halt digging into the various CCW malpractices in exchange for enhanced “defense†on the anti-gun onslaught.
I’ve therefore been banned from talking about CCW abuse at MC meetings and the NRA mailing list, and Chuck Michel’s investigations into CCW misconduct via the Public Records Act appears to have been halted for the same reason: avoid pissing off the sheriffs. Which makes me strongly suspect that the infinitesimally small “pro-gun aspects†to AB1044 aren’t the motivation for supporting it behind the scenes while keeping it quiet from the members.
I can’t play along with that.
This is the proposed statement of opposition I’ve written on AB1044, to be included in the legislative committee digests:
-----
Statement of opposition to AB1044, by <name of organization here, I’m in communication with several>
On 1/1/99, Assembly Bill 2022 took effect, altering the process for obtaining a Carry Concealed Weapon (“CCWâ€) permit.
In addition to other reforms, AB2022 put three new duties on the office of the Attorney General and California DOJ:
1) Copies of all records of CCW denial were to be forwarded to Cal-DOJ from the sheriffs and police chiefs and stored.
2) The complete records for all approved and denied applicants would be stored by Cal-DOJ, instead of just summary data for the approved. This includes the records of “good cause for issuance†pursuant to Penal Code 12050.
3) The AG’s office was tasked with creating a new statewide standard form to replace the existing local agency forms. If they exercised their regulatory authority while doing so, they were to do so in public, with public comments, as per Government Code 11340.
Contrary to state law, the California DOJ completely ignored the first two legal requirements and handled the third in secret, implementing illegal action to violate the California Public Records Act. A California Supreme Court decision (CBS vs. Block, 1986, 230 Cal.Rptr. 362) had already thrown open the “good cause for issuance†records of CCW issuance and application because of the potential for issuance abuse; Lockyer and the California DOJ want the records sealed to hide material embarrassing to corrupt sheriffs and police chiefs across the state.
The collective effect of AB1044 is to cover up evidence of corruption, racial discrimination and gender bias in the CCW issuance process by retroactively legalizing a conspiracy to violate the Public Records Act, and multiple violations of AB2022.
The failure on item #1 above also constitutes a public safety threat, as it allows applicants to apply, get denied for a cause known to the agency where they live, move and apply elsewhere, and tell the new agency that they’ve never applied before. The lie will never be caught due to the lack of central records.
There’s a technical term for what happens when law enforcement can make up their own rules: “police stateâ€. We believe that AG Lockyer and the California DOJ should be told to obey existing law rather than violate it and make a mockery of the Public Records Act, only to get a retroactive “free pass†from the legislature in the form of AB1044.
-----
I’m not calling for anybody’s heads here. I have a disagreement with one aspect of what is going on with the California NRA system, *however* I feel that the combination of Ed Worley and the Sacramento NRA staff, Chuck Michel and company in LA and the MC system in general is an unmatched system for BLOCKING the anti-self-defense insanity coming out of Sac.
There’s no way to replace that structure, and I hope that despite my problems with some aspects of how they play OFFENSE, nobody will quit that system because of this post! What’s needed is a parallel structure for offense, especially investigation and court action, and I hope to be a part of that. Monitor the CA-Firearms mailing list (on the Yahoo Groups system) and the Gun Rights section of the online discussion forum at http://www.calguns.net for more details.
For more info on the issue, see this thread on THR:
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19889
WHAT TO DO:
First step, *politely* tell Assemblywoman McLeod’s office you are NOT happy with legalizing massive misconduct by the Cal-DOJ: (916) 319-2061
There will be a small-scale fight over this bill at the Assembly Appropriations Committee, but the real fight will probably be in the Senate Safety Committee. While the Senate Safety Committee is chaired by John Burton, Burton actually has a very good stance regarding public records, and may take a very dim view of the systematic illegalities by Cal-DOJ.
As some of you know, the California Department of Justice has made a number of mistakes with the handling of the new state-standard CCW application form and some other related “paperwork issues†they were tasked with dealing with under AB2022, an NRA supported bill that instituted a number of CCW reforms effective 1/1/99.
This year, Cal-DOJ is pushing a bill that would legalize the illegal actions Cal-DOJ has already been engaged in. They presented it to a Democrat legislator (Gloria Negrete McLeod) without telling her the full details of why they want it passed. In my view, Assemblywoman McLeod is in fact a victim here but as of this writing I’ve been unable to convince her staff, therefore I’m “going publicâ€.
At present, AB1044 is officially unopposed by anybody and sailing through the legislature; Ed Worley and company are officially neutral and Ed has explained that he actually wants it to pass. His stated reasoning is that it destroys some records on gun owners (the list of who’s been denied) but while that’s a theoretical “good thingâ€, AB1044 covers up so much “dirt†on CCW issuance that in my opinion, it’s not worth it.
Why would Ed not want to see CCW misconduct come to light?
Because the California State Sheriff’s Association has in the past helped us block various dumb gun bills including handgun registration and licensing, the “junk gun†bills and others. They’re now calling the favor: since Ed and others in the California NRA/CRPA network don’t think CCW reform is possible in the courts or legislature, they’re willing to halt digging into the various CCW malpractices in exchange for enhanced “defense†on the anti-gun onslaught.
I’ve therefore been banned from talking about CCW abuse at MC meetings and the NRA mailing list, and Chuck Michel’s investigations into CCW misconduct via the Public Records Act appears to have been halted for the same reason: avoid pissing off the sheriffs. Which makes me strongly suspect that the infinitesimally small “pro-gun aspects†to AB1044 aren’t the motivation for supporting it behind the scenes while keeping it quiet from the members.
I can’t play along with that.
This is the proposed statement of opposition I’ve written on AB1044, to be included in the legislative committee digests:
-----
Statement of opposition to AB1044, by <name of organization here, I’m in communication with several>
On 1/1/99, Assembly Bill 2022 took effect, altering the process for obtaining a Carry Concealed Weapon (“CCWâ€) permit.
In addition to other reforms, AB2022 put three new duties on the office of the Attorney General and California DOJ:
1) Copies of all records of CCW denial were to be forwarded to Cal-DOJ from the sheriffs and police chiefs and stored.
2) The complete records for all approved and denied applicants would be stored by Cal-DOJ, instead of just summary data for the approved. This includes the records of “good cause for issuance†pursuant to Penal Code 12050.
3) The AG’s office was tasked with creating a new statewide standard form to replace the existing local agency forms. If they exercised their regulatory authority while doing so, they were to do so in public, with public comments, as per Government Code 11340.
Contrary to state law, the California DOJ completely ignored the first two legal requirements and handled the third in secret, implementing illegal action to violate the California Public Records Act. A California Supreme Court decision (CBS vs. Block, 1986, 230 Cal.Rptr. 362) had already thrown open the “good cause for issuance†records of CCW issuance and application because of the potential for issuance abuse; Lockyer and the California DOJ want the records sealed to hide material embarrassing to corrupt sheriffs and police chiefs across the state.
The collective effect of AB1044 is to cover up evidence of corruption, racial discrimination and gender bias in the CCW issuance process by retroactively legalizing a conspiracy to violate the Public Records Act, and multiple violations of AB2022.
The failure on item #1 above also constitutes a public safety threat, as it allows applicants to apply, get denied for a cause known to the agency where they live, move and apply elsewhere, and tell the new agency that they’ve never applied before. The lie will never be caught due to the lack of central records.
There’s a technical term for what happens when law enforcement can make up their own rules: “police stateâ€. We believe that AG Lockyer and the California DOJ should be told to obey existing law rather than violate it and make a mockery of the Public Records Act, only to get a retroactive “free pass†from the legislature in the form of AB1044.
-----
I’m not calling for anybody’s heads here. I have a disagreement with one aspect of what is going on with the California NRA system, *however* I feel that the combination of Ed Worley and the Sacramento NRA staff, Chuck Michel and company in LA and the MC system in general is an unmatched system for BLOCKING the anti-self-defense insanity coming out of Sac.
There’s no way to replace that structure, and I hope that despite my problems with some aspects of how they play OFFENSE, nobody will quit that system because of this post! What’s needed is a parallel structure for offense, especially investigation and court action, and I hope to be a part of that. Monitor the CA-Firearms mailing list (on the Yahoo Groups system) and the Gun Rights section of the online discussion forum at http://www.calguns.net for more details.
For more info on the issue, see this thread on THR:
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19889
WHAT TO DO:
First step, *politely* tell Assemblywoman McLeod’s office you are NOT happy with legalizing massive misconduct by the Cal-DOJ: (916) 319-2061
There will be a small-scale fight over this bill at the Assembly Appropriations Committee, but the real fight will probably be in the Senate Safety Committee. While the Senate Safety Committee is chaired by John Burton, Burton actually has a very good stance regarding public records, and may take a very dim view of the systematic illegalities by Cal-DOJ.
Last edited: