Contact members of the Assembly Public Safety Committee TODAY!
Anti-gun extremist Senator Kevin De León is continuing his assault on our Second Amendment rights in Sacramento for a second consecutive year and his bills are even more restrictive this year.
On Tuesday, July 5, the state Assembly Public Safety Committee is scheduled to hear two of De León’s anti-gun bills that, if enacted into law, will have very serious ramifications for ALL of California’s gun owners and sportsmen: Senate Bill 124 (ammunition registration) and Senate Bill 798 (air and BB gun regulation). SB 124 and SB 798 have both already passed in the state Senate by a 22 to 16 vote and will go to the Governor if passed in the Assembly.
Senator De León has been promoting SB 124 as necessary to preserve California’s ban on armor-piercing “cop-killer” ammunition. He is seriously mischaracterizing SB 124 in this manner as a strategic ploy in order to garner law enforcement support for the bill under false pretenses, to shift the debate away from the real intent of the bill, and to deflect media coverage away from a court ruling in the NRA lawsuit which declared Senator De León’s ammunition regulation bill from last session (AB 962) unconstitutional.
In reality, De Leon is using SB 124 as a vehicle to require every hunter and target shooter in the state to be fingerprinted for purchases of all ammunition, and to prohibit the mail order purchase of all ammunition, including ammunition popular for hunting and sport shooting that has no association with crime. To be sure, De León’s bill has nothing to do with protecting police officers and everything to do with limiting the availability of most ammunition types to law-abiding civilians.
De León does not just stop at trying to rid California of its Second Amendment rights through ammunition; he is also attacking air-soft guns, BB guns and imitation firearms. His original anti-gun version of SB 798 would treat air and BB guns as toys by mandating that they be completely painted in bright colors and impose a civil penalty on retailers who do not sell air & BB guns that are properly colored. This version was defeated in the Senate Public Safety Committee because the color of imitation firearms was preempted by federal law.
De León was granted reconsideration to address the federal preemption issue and instead amended SB 798 to overturn California’s long-standing preemption statute that promotes consistent statewide regulation of air-soft guns, BB guns, and imitation firearms.
California’s statute preempting local regulation of air-soft guns, BB guns and imitation firearms was passed in 1988 in response to routine inadvertent violations that were occurring due to the confusion caused by a patchwork of varying local ordinances. This preemption statute was enacted to avoid the very problems that De Leon’s newly amended bill would create.
Please call AND e-mail members of the Assembly Public Safety Committee TODAY and urge them to OPPOSE SB 124 and SB 798. Let the Committee know these bills will do nothing to stop crime and everything to do with imposing ridiculous and unnecessary restrictions on law-abiding Californians.
Please take a moment to forward this alert to your family, friends and fellow gun owners. We need everyone in California to fight against passage of all anti-gun legislation.
Assembly Public Safety Committee
Tom Ammiano (D-13) Chairman
(916) 319-2013
Steve Knight (R-36) Vice-Chairman
(916) 319-2036
Nancy Skinner (D-14)
(916) 319-2014
Jerry Hill (D-19)
(916) 319-2019
Gilbert Cedillo (D-45)
(916) 319-2045
Holly Mitchell (D-47)
(916) 319-2047
Curt Hagman (R-60)
(916) 319-2060