After a busy week of hearings, Friday April 22nd marked the deadline for bills with a fiscal note to be passed out of their respective policy committees. Bills not meeting this deadline are considered defeated for the 2016 legislative session. The good news is that a couple anti-gun bills are dead for the session. The bad news is, many of the most egregious bills are still moving. Additionally, several bills have been placed in the suspense file and will not be considered until the end of May. For an update of where we stand please see below:
Anti-Gun Assembly Bills still alive:
Assembly Bill 2607 would amend the “Gun Violence Restraining Order (GVRO)” procedures that were created by AB 1014 (2014). GVRO’s were opposed by NRA during the 2014 session because of the lack of due process when depriving an individual of their right to keep and bear arms. AB 2607 would compound the existing problems by significantly expanding the class of individuals who could seek a GVRO.
AB 2607 has moved to the Assembly floor and could be heard at any time. Please contact your state Assembly Member and urge him or her to OPPOSE AB 2607. Contact information can be found here or by clicking on the TAKE ACTION button below.
Anti-Gun Senate Bills still alive:
SB 880, SB 894, SB 1006, SB 1407, and SB 1446 all passed through the respective policy committees and could be heard as early as Monday, May 2 by the Senate Committee on Appropriation. Please take a moment to contact the members of the committee and urge them to OPPOSE SB 880, SB 894, SB 1006, SB 1407, and SB 1446. Contact information can be found here or by clicking on the TAKE ACTION button below.
Senate Bill 880 would massively expand the current definition of “assault weapon” to include ALL semi-automatic centerfire rifles with a detachable magazine. The California State Sheriffs’ Association has already testified in opposition to this egregious bill.
Senate Bill 894 would require a victim of a crime to report to local Law Enforcement the theft of a firearm within an arbitrary time requirement of five days and the recovery of the firearm within 48 hours. Governor Brown has twice vetoed similar legislation.
Senate Bill 1006 would enact a California Firearm Violence Research Act and would declare legislative intent regarding the principles by which the university would administer the center and award research fund at tax payer expense in an effort to continue to erode your constitutional rights. Let’s be clear, the NRA is not opposed to research that would encourage the safe and responsible use of firearms and reduce the numbers of firearm-related deaths. Safety has been at the core of the NRA’s mission since its inception. But that is not the goal of the gun control advocates who are behind Senate Bill 1006.
Senate Bill 1407 would make it a crime under California law for an individual to manufacture a firearm without first obtaining California Department of Justice (DOJ) approval to do so and subsequently engraving a DOJ-provided serial number on the firearm. This legislation should be opposed because it will effectively nullify the long-standing and constitutionally protected activity of building one’s own firearms. Governor Brown vetoed similar legislation in 2014.
Senate Bill 1446 would ban the simple possession of ammunition feeding devices/magazines that are capable of holding more than 10 cartridges. The federal “large-ammunition feeding device” ban of 1994-2004 was allowed to sunset due in part to its ineffectiveness. Yet, California anti-gun legislators still are persisting with this ban knowing that the congressionally-mandated study concluded that “the banned guns were never used in more than a modest fraction of all gun murders” before the ban and the bans 10-round limit on new magazines was not a factor in multiple-victim or multiple-wound crimes.
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Assembly Suspense File:
The following bills have been placed in the Assembly suspense file and will not be heard until the end of May. Your NRA-ILA will continue to keep you posted on potential hearings as the time nears.
Assembly Bill 1663 and Assembly Bill 1664 are similar and would massively expand the current definition of “assault weapon” to include ALL semi-automatic centerfire rifles with a detachable magazine. The California State Sheriffs’ Association has even testified in opposition to both of these egregious bills.
Assembly Bill 1673 would expand the definition of “firearm” to include unfinished frames and/or receivers that can be readily convertible. This expanded definition continues to push the limits on when a hunk of metal or polymer can be classified as a “firearm” regardless of the significant machining and fabrication necessary.
Assembly Bill 1674 would expand the current restriction on the number of firearms an individual can purchase within a 30 day period. Currently the “one gun a month” rule only applies to dealer sales of handguns. This legislation would make it applicable to all firearm transfers, including long guns. If this ridiculous proposal becomes law the average competitive shooter might be required to wait months to purchase all the necessary firearms for their competition.
Assembly Bill 1695 would make it a misdemeanor to report to a local law enforcement agency that a firearm has been lost or stolen, knowing that report to be false and create a 10 year firearm prohibition for someone convicted of this offense. This bill would also require the Attorney General to send a letter notice to each individual who has applied to purchase a firearm informing him or her of laws relating to firearms, gun trafficking, and safe storage and would allow the Department of Justice to use funds in the Firearms Safety and Enforcement Special Fund.
Anti-Gun Legislation Defeated for the 2016 Session:
Assembly Bill 2459 would have meant the end of almost every gun store across the state. As previously reported this legislation would have placed four crippling burdens, in which the cost of compiling these unnecessary and ineffective changes would have driven FFL’s out of business.
Senate Bill 1037 would have effectively removed the SOL from many firearm crimes including many common missteps because of the existing draconian measures that are often confusing and buried throughout CA statute. This means a gun which an owner may have believed to be in compliance for the past 10 years could continue to be a crime and lend an owner to becoming criminally culpable. Further it would have created a presumption in state law that would presume the person in possession of the firearm is the owner. Meaning that a person who is borrowing a gun within the current transfer exemptions would need to prove their possession was legal as opposed to how our system of justice works in almost every other situation, “innocent until proven guilty”. A continuing trend for CA gun owners, the anti-gunners believe you are guilty until proven innocent for exercising your constitutional rights.
Please stay tuned to NRA-ILA for updates. Please take a moment to forward this alert to your family, friends and fellow gun owners and sportsmen. The Second Amendment in California is going to need all of its supporters to survive.
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