Gun Laws & Legislation

CCW Weekend: California Doubles Down On Gun Control With “Safety For All Act Of 2016”

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By Beth Baumann,  Alien Gear Holsters

Hello gun control, bye-bye freedom.

California’s Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom has been a long-time supporter of gun control. In fact, in California’s political circles, Newsom is the Second Amendment’s biggest enemy. For years, Newsom has pushed his agenda to restrict access to firearms and ammunition. Now his agenda can very well become a reality.

Earlier this week it was announced that Newsom’s bill, the Safety for All Act of 2016, has qualified for California’s November elections. California voters will decide whether or not gun control is viable for them, despite the state being one of the strictest states on firearm ownership.

Should Newsom’s initiative become law, the following would go into effect:

Limited Firearms

  • A gun owner is limited to purchasing one firearm that is capable of being concealed (pistol or revolver) in a 30-day period. Transfers, even if taking place between family members, cannot occur during the same 30-day period that a firearm was purchased.

Large-Capacity Magazines

  • Any gun owner who has a large-capacity magazine would be required to turn them in to local law enforcement for destruction, sell to a licensed firearm dealer or send the magazine out of state. Failing to comply would result in a $100 fine per magazine and could be punishable by county imprisonment for up to a year. Exceptions to this include current and retired peace officers. This would go into effect July 1, 2017.

Ammunition Sales and Usage

  • The purchase of ammo, magazines, clips, speed loaders, autoloaders or projectiles would require a background check. People who wish to purchase ammo would have to apply for an ammunition purchase authorization, which grants them the rights to purchase ammo for four years. In order to apply for this authorization, a $50 application fee is required. This would go into effect July 1, 2019.
  • Gun dealers who are federally licensed to sell firearms would also be considered a licensed ammunition vendor. This would go into effect July 1, 2017.
  • In order to purchase ammo, a licensed ammo vendor would have to complete the sale. This would limit the private sale of ammunition. If neither party are licensed ammo vendors, both parties would have to go to a licensed ammo dealer at which point the dealer would conduct a background check and complete the sale, similar to the private party transferring of firearms.
  • If a gun owner purchases ammo at the range, the ammo must be used entirely at the range. It is not allowed to leave the facility.

The Reality

According to Newsom, his initiative would, “keep guns and ammo out of the hands of violent, dangerous, hateful people.”

Can we stop for a moment to digest this? And I mean really digest what he’s proposing. He wants to keep guns and ammo out of the hands of dangerous people. I am all for that. In fact, I think I’m safe in saying that any reasonable person wants to limit a potential terrorist’s access to weapons. How Newsom is proposing to go about that is not the way to go about it.

The people who follow the law are, generally speaking, not the people who go out and produce mass carnage. They’re average Americans, like myself, who want to protect themselves and their families. They’re mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. While none of us ever want to have to use our firearms to protect ourselves, we would rather be judged by 12 than carried by six.

Making Purchases Difficult

The proposed bill doesn’t make it difficult for criminals to purchase firearms. It makes it even more difficult for law-abiding gun owners to purchase guns. This “safety” act isn’t about keep guns out of the hands of criminals. It’s about severely limiting Californians ability to own guns, almost to the point of extinction.

Lacking Firearm Knowledge

The biggest flaw in this bill; the lack of firearm knowledge.

Newsom’s bill would limit large-capacity magazines, yet that’s already an established state law. As it is, Californians are not allowed to legally have a magazine that holds more than 10 rounds. The only exception is current and retired law enforcement officers.  People who previously had large-capacity magazines were grandfathered into this law, meaning they could keep any magazines they owned before the Robert-Roos Assault Weapons Control Act of 1989. Newsom’s bill would make those previously grandfathered in magazines illegal.

The bigger problem the Department of Justice would have: tracking those magazines. Firearms manufacturers don’t have serial numbers on magazines. They aren’t registered in a database or tracked by any government agency. It’s nearly impossible for the government to know if you have large-capacity magazines, unless you get pulled over concealed carrying that magazine or you voluntarily turn it over to a law enforcement agency for destruction.

The same goes for ammunition. Ammo manufacturers don’t have serial numbers or special stamping on their rounds that detail when and where the ammo was purchased. How would the government know if someone purchased ammo from a friend or family member?

Terrorist Threats

Newsom has utilized the San Bernardino attacks as one of his reasons to push for gun control. But guess what? He wasn’t in the Inland Empire, let alone in San Bernardino. But I was. I saw how Syred Farook and Tashfeen Malik’s terrorist attack on Inland Regional Medical Center impacted the community I lived in. I saw the police cars race by my office as the cities of San Bernardino and Redlands were shut down while the shooters were on the run.

It’s easy for politicians like Newsom to call for drastic changes to our gun laws when they never have to worry about a terrorist attack taking place in their backyard. They don’t have to learn how to defend themselves or their families because they have a paid security detail who use the same weapons they are calling a ban on. Irony at its finest, right?

Beth Baumann is outreach specialist for Alien Gear Holsters, a concealed carry holsters company. She is also a contributor to PolitiChicks and TheBlaze.

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