The Legislature returns from Spring Recess on Monday, April 17, with more anti-gun hearings coming this week in their respective Senate Committees on SB 464 and SB 497 and possible floor votes in the Assembly on AB 7 and AB 424. Click the take action button below to contact your legislator and urge them to oppose SB 464, SB 497, AB 7 and AB 424!
SB 464 is expected to be heard on Monday, April 17, by the Senate Appropriations Committee at 10 AM in room 4203. SB 464 would change the storage and security requirements of all firearms in the inventory of a licensed firearms dealer. California already has some of the strictest laws in the country regarding how dealers must store and secure firearms. This bill simply places more costs and mandates on law-abiding business owners.
SB 497 is expected to be heard on Tuesday, April 18, by the Senate Public Safety Committee at 9:30 AM in room 4203. SB 497 would expand the existing one handgun a month law to include ALL guns. Governor Brown vetoed similar legislation in 2016. Governor Brown states in his 2016 veto message, “Given California’s stringent laws restricting gun ownership, I do not believe this additional restriction is needed.”
It is obvious this legislation is another attempt to place more costs and barriers to those exercising their rights and does nothing to address the criminal misuse of firearms or firearm trafficking. Criminals who generally acquire their firearms through illicit means will continue to ignore California’s stringent laws including limitations on the number of firearms that can be acquired within a 30 day time period.
On Wednesday, April 5, anti-gun bills, Assembly Bill 7 and Assembly Bill 424, both passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee and are now eligible for third reading and the final vote by the full Assembly.
Assembly Bill 7 would further extend California’s ban on the open carry of an unloaded firearm while in or upon a public place or public street within a prohibited area located within the unincorporated area of a county.
This legislation is not about stopping or reducing firearm crime, it is about stereotyping law-abiding gun owners who are openly carrying an UNLOADED firearm as a criminal. California has some of the most stringent laws regarding the ownership and possession of a firearm. A person who is openly carrying a firearm must still comply with all other California laws regarding firearm ownership, possession, and transport of firearms or risk losing their firearms and imprisonment for simple technical violations of the law.
Assembly Bill 424 would remove the authority of a school district superintendent, his or her designee, or equivalent school authority to provide written permission for a person to possess a firearm within a school zone.
This is not the first attack on law-abiding citizens lawfully carrying their firearms in school zones. In 2015, AB 707 was signed into law which prohibited concealed carry permit holders from carrying and possession on K-12 and university grounds without written permission from the school authority. Supporters of the bill left the discretion to the school authorities on who could possess firearms on campus because they felt the school authorities were in the best position to exercise that discretion. The question is – what have school authorities done to deserve to have this important decision-making power taken away from them? To our knowledge, there have been no incidents with persons lawfully carrying on school campuses.
It is obvious that AB 424 is not about making our schools safer, instead this is only about continuing the assault on the Second Amendment and law-abiding gun owners in the Golden State.
Continue to check your inbox, and the California Stand and Fight website for updates on Second Amendment and hunting-related issues in California.
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