On Wednesday, March 16, at 9:00 am, in the John L Burton Hearing Room (4203), the Senate Committee on Educaton is scheduled to hear Senate Bill 1006. Please call AND email the members of the Education committee and urge them to OPPOSE SB 1006 as currently written.
SB 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 funds.
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.
Statistics and data linked to firearm-related violence are complex and frequently skewed by those who oppose gun ownership. Firearm research generally speaks only to the alleged possible risks associated with gun ownership, never to the benefits that law-abiding gun owners provide to society as a whole. It frequently finds only one option: more gun control, which plenty of respected researchers have found to be ineffective.
There are simply many other factors that drive high violent crime rates. In fact, the FBI, the nation’s top law enforcement agency, lists 13 contributing factors for why a city or state has a high violent crime rate – and nowhere on that list is weak gun laws.
If efforts were made to do a stringent, unbiased, and all-inclusive evaluation on which laws actually work when it comes to reducing gun violence, that would be a different story. With that being said, the NRA has suggested that SB 1006 be amended to become more comprehensive and encompassing in its research regarding the criminal misuse of firearms and the efficacy of current California firearm laws.
Don’t forget to forward this alert to your family, friends, and fellow gun owners and sportsmen urging them to call the members of the Senate Committee on Education to OPPOSE SB 1006 as currently written.
Members of the Senate Committee on Education:
Vacant (Vice Chair)