The Assembly and Senate Public Safety Committee is scheduled to hold an informational hearing tomorrow, Tuesday May 3, at 9:30am in hearing room 4203, on Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom’s gun control initiative, “The Safety for All Act of 2016.” A vote will not be taken at this hearing however members are encourage to contact members of the committee with their opposition to the initiative and similar legislation that is currently moving through the Legislature. Assembly Public Safety Committee contact information can be found here and the Senate Public Safety Committee contact information can be found here or you can click the take action button below.
The NRA is joined by a growing number of diverse organizations that have publicly come out in opposition to Newsom’s gun control imitative. These groups include: the California State Sheriffs’ Association, the Association of Deputy District Attorneys, Congress of Racial Equality, Women Against Gun Control, and the San Francisco Veteran Police Officers Association, just to name a few. These are all reputable organizations opposing this misguided initiative that recognize “The Safety for All Act of 2016” will do nothing to criminals, nothing to stop gun crimes and will only harm the law-abiding citizens of California.
According to the official language submitted to the Attorney General, Newsom’s intiative includes a laundry list of proposals that restrict, complicate and increase the cost of exercising your Second Amendment rights. Notable provisions include:
House-to-House Confiscation of Private Property – Millions of legal magazines will need to be sold out-of-state, taken out-of-state, or seized by law enforcement. Many legal firearms are designed around magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds, making them effectively useless for self-defense, competitive shooting, and hunting. This backdoor gun ban is not just on future sales, but forces you to surrender your existing private property to law enforcement.
Restricting Legal Ammunition Vendors - Thousands of ammunition retailers will be prohibited from selling ammunition in California. Vendors will be required to pay additional fees to have their employees authorized as a seller of ammunition. Out-of-state ammunition vendors will be prohibited from directly selling ammunition into California. Because of its ineffectiveness, in 1986, the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms supported repeal of a similar federal ammunition record-keeping requirement: "The Bureau and the [Treasury] Department have recognized that current recordkeeping requirements for ammunition have no substantial law enforcement value." These ammunition restrictions will severely curtail the exercise of constitutionally protected conduct while providing no law enforcement value.
Leaving the Range With Ammunition - By criminalizing the private sale or transfer of ammunition, it will be a crime to share ammunition with a friend or family member to finish up a hunting trip or day at the range. The initiative would even prohibit leaving the range with any unused ammunition purchased at the range.
Costly Fees & Long Waits Just to Acquire Lawful Ammunition - This latest attempt to reduce the exercise of Second Amendment rights includes yet another excessive fee under the guise of more background checks. Newsom wants you to pay another $50 fee and wait 30 days for authorization to purchase ammunition. Law-abiding gun owners who have already gone through the burdensome firearm safety certificate procedures would not be exempt from the new ammunition authorization requirement. The authorization would be added on top of California’s already complicated regime of firearm and ammunition regulations.
Lost and Stolen Reporting – This requirement would turn law-abiding citizens into criminals should they fail to report lost or stolen firearms to police within a limited amount of time after they “should have known” the firearm was missing. Governor Brown has already vetoed similar legislation twice because it would do nothing to improve public safety in California.
Defeating Newsom’s gun control initiative will be a fight through November and it’s imperative that you help educate your family, friends and other Californians. Newsom is operating under the guise of “safety” to mislead citizens into somehow thinking restricting and creating new crimes against law-abiding citizens will curb criminal activity. The truth is, this initiative creates new crimes for the law-abiding while ignoring the acts of criminals. Don’t let Newsom’s propaganda fool you because he has never met a gun control measure he doesn’t like including pushing for a complete handgun ban while serving as the Mayor of San Francisco.
