A post by Maynard

Gov. Schwarzenegger, while vetoing two other gun-restricting bills, signed into law a bill that bans mail-order ammunition and requires local buyers to be thumb-printed.

Considering the shortages of ammunition lately which leave gun owners scrambling for supplies, this bill effectively becomes a ban on ammunition. It also treats anyone that buys ammunition like a criminal.

I intend to go out of state for future ammunition sales. So will many, many other legitimate gun owners. Ammunition clubs for the purpose of developing new supply lines are forming as we speak.

The result of California’s new law will be to drive business out of state, to turn law-abiding citizens into criminals and conspirators, and to deprive citizens of their Constitutional rights. The law will have zero impact on real criminals, and in fact the state will know less about who has ammunition than before the law, since most gun owners will buy surreptitiously. The law does nothing except express, at a significant dollar cost, the contempt legislators have for legitimate gun owners.

So I’m to be declared a criminal, at least on paper. As a practical matter, I figure there’s nothing the state can do about my violations. But if they ever come to punish me, I refuse to play along. I won’t pay their fines or be jailed.

Does the state really need to come after me with forceful coercion? Is that the sort of threat I represent? Is this the level we’ve sunk to?

I’m not saying that with bravado. In fact, I feel pretty queasy about it. I don’t want them to come and get me, and I figure it’s not going to happen. I don’t want to have this fight at all. I just want to get on with my stupid life. But there are some lines that cannot be crossed, and this is one of them.

Here’s the NRA announcement:

California: Governor Takes Action on Two Anti-Gun Bills in Sacramento

Monday, October 12, 2009

This weekend, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) vetoed Senate Bill 585 but signed Assembly Bill 962 into law.

SB585 would have prohibited the sale of firearms and ammunition on the property or inside the buildings that comprise the Cow Palace in Daly City, just outside of San Francisco. Simply put, SB585 was a stepping-stone to banning gun shows on all publicly-owned property in California.

Unfortunately, the Governor did sign AB962. This bill requires individuals purchasing ammunition be fingerprinted and registered at the time of sale, mandates that dealers keep these records and make them available for inspection by the California Department of Justice. Ammunition retailers would also have to store ammunition in such a manner that it would be inaccessible to purchasers. Finally, mail order ammunition sales are prohibited under AB962. Over twenty years ago, Congress abolished similar requirements because ammunition sales records were found to be useless for solving crimes. AB962 is a dire threat to our Second Amendment rights in the Golden State.

Thank you to all of the NRA members who answered the call in opposition to SB585.

Please contact Governor Schwarzenegger TODAY and respectfully voice your disapproval with his signing of AB962. The Governor can be reached by phone at 916-445-2841 or via fax at 916-558-3160. To email Governor Schwarzenegger, please visit http://gov.ca.gov/interact.

My email to the governor (this will look familiar, because I borrowed from the foregoing post) reads as follows:

I am outraged that you chose to sign AB962 into law. Considering the shortages of ammunition lately which leave gun owners scrambling for supplies, this bill effectively becomes a ban on ammunition. It also treats anyone that buys ammunition like a criminal. The result of California’s new law will be to drive business out of state, to turn law-abiding citizens into criminals and conspirators, and to deprive citizens of their Constitutional rights. The law will have zero impact on real criminals, and in fact the state will know less about who has ammunition than before the law, since most gun owners will buy surreptitiously. The law does nothing except express, at a significant dollar cost, the contempt legislators have for legitimate gun owners. This is an ugly, pointless, expensive assault against California’s decent, productive, law-abiding citizens, and I’m deeply disappointed to find that you went along with it.

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20 Comments | Leave a comment
  1. Well what can I say, it is time to terminate the “Governator” politically, isn’t it?

    It was pretty dumb for many prominent conservatives -including
    Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh- to endorse this guy on the Lesser of Two Evils approach (to McClintock). They should have just waited until California went up in flames under Gray Davis.
    I had problems with Schwarzenneger from the beginning because he was willing to marry a Kennedy-you don’t get inside with them unless you are SOCIALIST. ‘Just my two-cents worth.

    The businesswoman-Republican who apparently is the Repub favorite (whose name escapes me) is not any better than Arnold from what Iunderstand.

  2. RobbieK says:

    Can you say “Unconstitutional?”. Schwarznegger keeps this up, he’ll be in the crosshairs of the NRA.

  3. dilvish says:

    Calguns Foundation has a legal challenge all planned out – federal pre-emption. See http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=230676

  4. HughM. says:

    What an ass and a disappointment Schwarzenegger is. We have got to get away from these idiotic Republican-Party guys and start a Freedom or Constitutional Party. This unconstitutional “madness as law” seems like Supreme Court fodder to me.

  5. echosierra says:

    Well, my friend in Arizona took me out to the shooting range while I was visiting. We used two of his full-auto guns. I’m shopping for a home there, as we speak. $200K will get you 2,000 sq ft on 15-30 acres. Enough for a nice private gun range. It’s a 30 minute flight from Tucson to San Diego or Orange County. Less time to get to the beach than driving from the I.E. Screw California.

  6. IloiloKano says:

    Why should Arnold even get past the primaries next time?
    It’s time to shove his sorry butt into the Democratic party where he belongs.

    Draft McClintock.
    http://www.tommcclintock.com/

  7. lord-ruler says:

    So far the candidates for governor look like duds. I say write in Larry Elder He’ll make sure you can have your guns.

  8. c4400 says:

    Why am I still in California?

  9. Maynard says:

    Try to imagine if they protected freedom of the press the same way they protect gun rights. “Sure, you can print anything you want. But you’ll need a permit for that printing press. Whoa, your background looks a bit flaky. Get on line. Maybe we’ll approve you next year. Ink? Yeah, ink’s a controlled substance. Short supply. Show us your papers to buy ink. Sorry, we’re out of ink. No, you can’t buy ink through the mails. What are you, some kind of extremist?”

  10. Young American says:

    Arnold Kennedy is only hurting the state he is governing. I doubt they will come to take you away Maynard, but if they do cross that line you are prepared. A scary thought but slowly approaching to becoming a reality.

  11. KathyJo says:

    It’s another smoky mirror ploy. . .so Ahnold can feel good about himself that he’s at least doing SOMETHING about SOMETHING because he’s been pretty ineffective at anything to help California so far. It’s easy to place restrictions on legal gun owners, it makes legislators feel like they really are doing something to curb gun crime, and they can always point to this and say “looky here. . .we are not just fiddling while Rome burns. We have made important legislation for the protection of all our citizens.” It LOOKS like they have done something important to stop gun crime. And as we all know, looks and intentions are all that matters. Real substantive results. . .bah. We’re TRYING, we don’t understand why everything we’ve done is not working, but we keep trying nonetheless.

    On the one hand, I had to be fingerprinted when I got my concealed license, so what’s the big deal? My prints are already on file and I have nothing to hide. On the other, I just flat out resent it. Going after the legal gun owner, when the illegals are rampant, and it’s the illegals we have to fear. Can they really believe that EVERY gun used in a crime is legally owned and duly registered by the perpetrator?

    Anyone else out there feeling like everything to come out of the government of any state and DC is just plain so dumb you can’t wrap your brain around the dumb-ness of it to form any sort of coherent response or rebuttal because you can’t believe it?

  12. MRFIXIT says:

    Nevada, here I come!

  13. ladykrystyna says:

    It may not stand long if that new Supreme Court case in 2010 gets decided in our favor, i.e. that the 2nd Amendment applies to the states and HOPEFULLY that state regulations receive at least intermediate if not strict scrutiny (isn’t 2nd amendment a FUNDAMENTAL right?).

    So we may still have a chance to win. Hopefully the lawyers in that SCOTUS case are articulate and well-versed in how to argue this. And hopefully one of our conservative guys doesn’t have to take off between now and then.

    I’m ticked off, but I haven’t lost all hope yet.

    And yes, I voted for this idiot twice and boy am I a little more than disappointed in him. I will NEVER vote for a RINO again.

  14. strider72 says:

    Dilvish — you’re right. The seeds of it’s own destruction are in the law itself. Won’t stand up in court. http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=230676

    KathyJo — The short version: “Gun control is what you do instead of something.”

  15. strider72 says:

    Tammy — Not related to this post, but it is gun-related, and I don’t see a “Contact” link anywhere on your site. So here goes….

    The photo of you at the top of your site, with chin in hand and holding a gun, is a very nice photo of you, but unfortunately shows very poor form in terms of handling a gun!

    One of the four basic gun rules: finger OFF the trigger until your target is sighted and you’re ready to fire. Be a better example — please change the picture.

    • Tammy says:

      Hi Strider, thanks for commenting, but let me be blunt, you’re what I term a Trigger Nazi. That is a dramatic photo. Before you chastise me, I would suggest you first target all the John Wayne and Clint Eastwood movies and demand that their handling a gun, fingers-on-triggers and all, be either edited or photoshopped out. Oh yeah, that would be silly because those are movies, dramatic representations of handling firearms. Exactly. And so no, I will not ‘change the picture’. As a matter of fact I think you’ll enjoy the podcast alert pic today especially. It’s just for you. 🙂

    • Tammy says:

      Oh, and one other thing, as opposed to demanding that I ‘change the picture’ you should instead thank me for promoting women and gun ownership. Sheesh.

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