Gov. Jerry Brown

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Even MORE Gun Control Laws In California?

September 10, 2018 by 3 Comments

Just when you thought California had more than enough gun control laws, the California legislature sends nine more to Gov. Jerry Brown (D-CA) for signature. With some sort of luck, he may – and I emphasize “may” – veto some of these laws. He has done that in the past.

Gun law attorney Adam Kraut discusses a number of these laws in this video from The Gun Collective. He also has some great alternative names to the official ones for these laws.

If you would like to know even more about these bill and would like to let Gov. Brown know your opinion on them, the Firearms Policy Coalition gives you that info in this release that went out on Friday.

FPC Seeks Veto of 9 Gun Bills from California Gov. Jerry Brown,

Asks for Approval of Public Records Act Bill

SACRAMENTO, CA (September 7, 2018) — Today, Firearms Policy Coalition asked California Governor Jerry Brown to veto nine “dangerous” gun bills that would “radically change” the state’s already-voluminous and complex laws. The advocacy organization also requested that Gov. Brown sign one bill that would help prevent state and local agencies from abusing the Public Records Act attorney fee provisions to chill the public’s right to access government files.

Historically, Brown signs most bills sent to him by the Legislature. But, FPC said, he does sometimes veto bills that don’t make sense to him and has rejected gun bills in the past. FPC’s legislative advocate and spokesperson, Craig DeLuz, thinks that Brown has plenty of reasons to reject the nine gun bills they oppose. “Some of these pieces of legislation are just headline-grabbing garbage because it’s an election year,” he said. “And Brown has vetoed some of these bills before, for good reasons. He may just put the brakes on expanding California gun laws in the last year of his last term to leave these decisions to the next governor.”

SB 1177, “just a few months ago an Education Code bill – would make it a crime to apply for the otherwise lawful purchase of a constitutionally protected firearm more than once a month. This bill is a case study of what happens when opportunistic legislators don’t have any real rules (or ethics),” FPC said in a letter. “The sky is blue, the sun sets in the west, and SB 1177 is yet another ego and animus-driven bill to put Senator Portanino’s name in bold print on yet another bill to attack the right to keep and bear arms.”

Another letter points out that San Francisco state senator Wiener’s SB 221 puts people and rights he doesn’t like in the crosshairs of the state. The bill, that would ban gun shows at the Cow Palace in Daly City if signed, was a health-related bill until it was “gutted and amended” just a few months ago. “In SB 221 the Legislature has targeted for especially unfavorable treatment those who would have the audacity to peacefully exercise their fundamental, individual rights protected under the First, Second, and Fourteenth Amendments,” FPC argued.

FPC-opposed bills that were passed by the Legislature include AB 1903, AB 1968, AB 2103, AB 2888, AB 3129, SB 221, SB 1100, SB 1177, and SB 1346. FPC supports SB 1244, a Public Records Act bill, by Bay Area Senator Bob Wieckowski.

Gun owners are encouraged to send Governor Brown a message voicing their opinion using FPC’s free Grassroots Take Action Tools at http://bit.ly/2018-ca-gov-brown .

FPC’s letters to California Governor Jerry Brown can be viewed or downloaded at http://bit.ly/fpc-2018-9-7-gov-brown-letters .

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California Gun Owners Get Screwed — Again

July 1, 2016 by 4 Comments

Gov. Jerry Brown (D-CA) did his usual splitting of the baby with regard to gun control bills today. He signed six and vetoed five. As per the usual lately, gun prohibitionists won much more than they lost and the Constitution was spit on once again.

The bills signed creates a registry of ammo owners, bans loaning of guns between family members and friends, bans the bullet button, adds non-violent misdemeanors as a prohibiting factor for gun purchases, and, last but not least, bans possession of all magazines with more than a 10-round capacity. On this last measure there is no grandfathering of existing magazines.

Brown said he was signing these bills “to enhance public safety by tightening our existing laws in a responsible and focused manner”. Of course, none of these bills would prevent further terrorist attacks like in San Bernardino or Orlando.

The release below from the Firearms Policy Coalition gives more details:

California Governor Jerry
Brown Guns Down the Constitution
Governor Jerry Brown signs 6, vetoes 4 gun
control bills that were passed by the California Legislature yesterday.
SACRAMENTO – This
morning, four-term Governor Jerry Brown conspired with other members of the
State’s corrupt one-party majority to make it easier for criminals and
terrorists to kill innocent people, said civil rights advocacy organization
Firearms Policy Coalition.
Brown signed six and
vetoed four of the eleven anti-gun, pro-terror bills that were passed by the
Legislature yesterday. (Note – there was a 5th anti-gun vetoed – AB1176)
The “Gunpocalypse”
legislation signed by the Governor today will create new criminal liabilities
affecting millions of law-abiding people, cost the state tens of millions of
dollars in new fees and fines, and eviscerate fundamental, individual rights.
“These are
constitutionally-illegitimate laws passed by a patently illegitimate government
that had the audacity to attack and criminalize millions of its own people in Stalin-esque
fashion,” said Firearms Policy Coalition President Brandon Combs.
“We expect mass
non-compliance with these laws and encourage good, peaceful Californians to
carefully consider the risks of voluntarily identifying their firearms, magazines,
and ammunition to law enforcement officials, especially the California Department
of Justice.”
The Legislature
suspended nearly every procedural rule to rush these anti-gun, ISIS-enabling
bills through to Brown before he left for Europe, a place that may have served
as the model for his unconstitutional firearm policies.  Now that the first phase of their year-long
campaign to support violent criminals and terrorists is complete, the members
of the Legislature who passed the bills have left Sacramento for a month-long,
taxpayer-funded vacation.
“The Legislature ignored
every rule in the book to fast-track their civilian disarmament agenda and herd
the people into a state-wide gun-free-zone,” said Craig DeLuz, the director of
public and legislative affairs for Firearms Policy Coalition.
Continued DeLuz, “There
are still a dozen anti-gun bills pending in the Legislature, and while Governor
Brown’s actions today were disturbing, Firearms Policy Coalition and our
members will continue to fight to defend and restore the Second Amendment in
California.”
With Senate Bill 1446¾ a statewide,
confiscatory ban on lawfully-possessed “large-capacity” magazines¾law enforcement interests
once again cut shady deals to exempt their retired members from the long reach
of the new gun control laws.
Earlier this year,
Firearms Policy Coalition, two other civil rights groups, and a number of
individuals filed a federal civil rights lawsuit–captioned Garcia v. Attorney General Kamala Harris–that challenges
California’s gun law exemptions for retired law enforcement officers on
Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection grounds.
“Jerry Brown and the
California Legislature have openly declared war on gun owners and the Bill of
Rights,” continued Combs. “By signing the bills that he did, Governor Brown
showed us that he has no respect for the rule of law, reason, or law-abiding
people. I submit that he and his ilk deserve the same contempt in return.”
“The government would be
wise to remember that there are more California residents with guns than there
are government officials to take them away. To coin a phrase, ‘come and take it’,”
Combs concluded.
The Governor signed the
following bills today:
·                 
AB 1135 (Levine): Bans common and constitutionally-protected
firearms that have magazine locking devices.
·                 
AB 1511 (Santiago): Criminalizes loaning of firearms between
personally known, law-abiding adults, including family members, sportspersons,
and competitors.
·                 
AB 1695 (Bonta): Makes a non-violent misdemeanor a prohibiting
offense.
·                 
SB 880 (Hall): Bans common and constitutionally-protected firearms that have
magazine locking devices.
·                 
SB 1235 (de Leon): New restrictions on ammunition purchases;
creates a DOJ database of ammunition owners.
·                 
SB 1446 (Hancock): Statewide confiscatory ban on all lawfully-possessed
standard-capacity ammunition feeding devices that hold more than 10 round;
exemption for retired police
The Governor vetoed the
following bills today:
·                 
AB 1673 (Gipson): Would have redefined “firearms” to include
objects that are not firearms
·                 
AB 1674 (Santiago): Would have banned buying more than one firearm of
any type within a 30-day period
·                 
AB 2607 (Ting): Would have dramatically expanded the reach of
secret “Gun Violence Restraining Orders”
·                 
SB 894 (Jackson): Would have re-victimized victims of theft by
criminalizing the failure to report lost and stolen firearms

AB 857 (Cooper), which would require that serial numbers be
placed on un-serialized firearms manufactured going back 50 years and on all
new home-built firearms, is still pending. 
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Nothing Like Walking The Dog To Get A Bill Signed

October 28, 2013 by 1 Comment

While there may be other meanings to walking the dog, taken literally it might just have been the deciding factor in California Gov. Jerry Brown’s decision to sign the ban on lead ammunition.

The biggest proponent of the lead ammo ban was the anti-hunting Humane Society of the US. And who just happens to walk Jerry Brown’s dog Sutter on a regular basis? None other than Jennifer Fearing who is the state director for HSUS in California.

Does the hand that holds the leash of California’s “first dog,” cuddly corgi Sutter Brown, also have a hand in guiding policy with the dog’s master, Gov. Jerry Brown?

That’s the question being raised about Jennifer Fearing, the senior state director for the Humane Society of the United States, who critics suggest has turned her role as regular walker of the governor’s dog into a cannily effective way to lobby the state’s chief executive on animal rights issues.

Fearing scored a perfect 6-for-6 record this legislative season in getting bills signed by Brown, placing her in the ranks of Sacramento’s most effective lobbyists.

Among the coups for the Humane Society was legislation banning lead ammunition that Fearing said endangered as many as 130 species in California. It was one of 11 bills signed by Brown out of the 18 that the Legislature passed to restrict guns or ammunition.

Fearing denies any impropriety and says she hasn’t talked to Gov. Brown or his wife personally about the bill in question.

Others are not so sure. The gun-rights group Free California has filed a complaint with California’s Fair Political Practices Commission saying the dog-walking is an in-kind payment to the governor. Ethics experts are also unsure about this.

Fearing is “a powerful person who wants something from the government,” said Jessica Levinson, an expert on law and governance issues and associate professor of law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.

With her role in the dog’s life, “she has access to Gov. Brown,” Levinson said. “There are a variety of ways to exercise influence.”

California taxpayers, for instance, would have a right to know if “Brown had a kid, and his tutor was head of the California Teachers Association,” Levinson said.

I know I, for one, would be more favorably disposed towards someone my dog liked. Conversely, if my dog didn’t like you, then there is something about you that might be suspect. Regardless of the intent, Fearing’s regular walks with Sutter who seems to like her has to have made Brown more receptive to her arguments. It would be hard for Brown to dismiss Fearing and her group’s agenda out of hand given the personal relationship in question. I don’t know if Fearing started walking Sutter in order to get Brown’s attention but it seems to have worked anyways.

UPDATE: The Washington Times is wondering if this should be called “Corgigate”. Attorney Chuck Michel who handles much of the NRA’s legal work in California had this to say of Fearing.

“For someone who did not hesitate to take the moral high ground in denigrating the ethical standards of hunters during the campaign to ban lead ammunition, it is disappointing to see that Jennifer Fearing does not hold herself to those same ethical standards in properly disclosing her relationship with the governor,” said Chuck Michel, California attorney for the National Rifle Association, in a statement.

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California – Brown Vetoes Some And Signs Some

October 13, 2013 by

With three days to go, Gov. Jerry Brown (D-CA) signed some of the many gun control bills on his desk and vetoed the rest. While vetoing the worst gun control bill (SB 374) that would have banned virtually all semi-automatic rifles with detachable magazines, he did sign AB 711 which mandates a phase-out of all lead ammo for hunting by 2019.

A list of the bills in numerical order and their disposition courtesy of the San Jose Mercury and posted in CalGuns.net is below:

SB 127 by Sen. Ted Gaines, R-Rocklin — Requires that reports by a licensed psychotherapist to a local law enforcement agency of someone who has communicated a serious threat of physical violence against a reasonably identifiable victim or victims be made within 24 hours; also requires local law enforcement agencies, when they receive such reports, to notify the Department of Justice electronically and within 24 hours. SIGNED

SB 299 by Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord — would require gun owners to report a gun theft or loss to police within seven days of knowing about it. VETOED

SB 363 by Sen. Roderick Wright, D-Los Angeles — expands the crime of “criminal storage” to include keeping a loaded firearm within premises where a prohibited person is likely to gain access and actually accesses and causes injury. SIGNED

SB 374 by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento — would add all semi-automatic rifles with detachable magazines to the state’s list of banned assault weapons. VETOED

SB 475 by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco — would essentially ban gun shows at the Cow Palace by requiring they be approved by San Francisco and San Mateo supervisors. VETOED

SB 567 by Sen. Hannah Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara — would update the definition of an illegal shotgun to include a shotgun with a revolving cylinder and a rifled bore. VETOED

SB 683 by Sen. Marty Block, D-San Diego — would require owners of long guns to earn safety certificates like those already required of handgun owners. SIGNED

SB 755 by Sen. Lois Wolk, D-Vacaville — would expand list of convicts who can’t legally own guns to include those with multiple drug or alcohol crimes, street gang members and others. VETOED

AB 48 by Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley — would ban conversion kits that allow people to turn regular magazines into high-capacity magazines. SIGNED

AB 169 by Assemblyman Roger Dickinson, D-Sacramento — would tighten exemptions to the law prohibiting purchase of handguns that haven’t been tested and deemed safe by the state. VETOED

AB 170 by Assemblyman Steven Bradford, D-Gardena — would provides that only an individual person, not an organization, may be issued a permit to possess an assault weapon, .50 BMG rifle, or machine gun. SIGNED

AB 180 by Assemblyman Rob Bonta, D-Oakland — would give Oakland an exemption from state pre-emption so it can pass its own stricter gun registration or licensing statutes. VETOED

AB 231 by Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco — would make it a crime to leave a loaded firearm somewhere a child is likely to be able to get it without permission. SIGNED

AB 500 by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco — would tighten gun safety laws on safe storage to include households where someone is prohibited from owning a gun; also allows additional time for Department of Justice background checks. SIGNED

AB 538 by Assemblyman Richard Pan, D-Sacramento — Requires a licensed firearm dealer to provide copies of the dealer’s record of sale (DROS) to a firearm purchaser at the time of delivery. SIGNED

AB 539 by Pan — lets someone who’s temporarily prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm to transfer firearms in his or her possession or ownership to a licensed firearms dealer for storage. SIGNED

AB 711 by Assemblyman Anthony Rendon, D-South Gate — would ban use of lead ammunition in hunting by mid-2019. SIGNED

AB 1131 by Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley — would extend from six months to five years the prohibition from owning firearms for those who’ve described a credible violent threat to a psychotherapist. SIGNED

 The National Shooting Sports Foundation had this to say, in part, about Brown’s actions on Friday.

“We are greatly disappointed that Gov. Brown decided to sign AB 711, which as we view things today will effectively end or greatly curtail hunting in California, given the restrictions on the use of non-traditional ammunition.” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel. “We will have more to say on this important issue, but it is mind boggling that the governor would shut down this American tradition and actually imperil the substantial conservation funding that is provided to California through the federal excise tax on ammunition.”

Keane continued: “We are pleased that Gov. Brown vetoed SB 374 and AB 180, however, as these proposed restrictions on law-abiding Californians would have done nothing to make the state safer.”

From the Firearms Policy Coalition which includes both the CalGuns Foundation and Cal-FFL as founding members.

Last Thursday, Firearms Policy Coalition Managing Director Brandon Combs delivered 65,000 letters from individuals to the Governor’s office urging Gov. Brown to veto the bills and protect the civil rights of law-abiding gun owners.

“We can thank tens of thousands of individuals who rose to the challenge for today’s defeat of Sen. Steinberg’s outrageous SB 374,” said Combs of the Governor’s veto.

In spite of an “all-in” push for new gun control measures led by extremists like Sen. Steinberg and anti-rights special interest groups including Michael Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the Brady Campaign, and Moms Demand Action, the gun rights community was able to secure a roughly 80% loss rate for California gun control bills.

“Our Demand Rights campaign ramped very quickly thanks to FPC’s online ‘Take Action’ grassroots activism platform,” explained Combs. “We were able to start up where last year’s successful Stop SB 249 campaign left off. FPC’s unique ability to scale agile grassroots efforts in realtime made the difference in how we were able to pull together such a large, diverse coalition of citizen activists for an unprecedented number of issues.”

Some bills, like Senator Leland Yee’s SB 47 ban on “Bullet Button” firearms, those having a magazine locking device, are likely to return when the Legislature reconvenes.

“We told them ‘not one more inch’ and we meant it,” concluded Combs. ”We’ll celebrate the wins, learn from the losses, and come back stronger than ever to fight for gun owners’ Second Amendment rights.”

So far, I haven’t seen any official response to these bills from the NRA-ILA, GOA, SAF, or CCRKBA.

The gun prohibitionists were not altogether pleased about Brown’s actions. While they got some of what they wanted it was not everything.

The Brady Campaign criticized Brown for not doing more.

“We are disappointed that the Governor vetoed important gun reform bills designed to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people,” said Dr. Dallas Stout, President of the California Chapters of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. “We know that these gun policies work and would have saved lives.”

Governor Brown did sign other substantial gun reform bills into law. This includes AB 500 that requires safe storage of firearms in homes where a severely mentally ill person, a felon, or other prohibited person resides, and AB 48 that prohibits large-capacity ammunition magazine “conversion kits” that are used to subvert California’s law to restrict massive firepower of certain weapons.

“California did make strides today, but we wish Governor Brown had done more. There is more work to be done when Californians are still in danger of gun violence every day,” added Stout.

The lefty California-based Courage Campaign went much further in their criticism of Brown calling his actions “cowardly”.  They pledge to hold Brown accountable for “kowtowing to the gun lobby” on their fund raising page.

“Today, in vetoing a series of gun safety measures, Governor Brown choose to put craven political considerations above the safety and well-being of California’s more than 38 million residents.

Governor Brown, a former Mayor of Oakland, knows first hand the dangers of gun violence and the need for strong laws to protect California’s residents, which makes his actions all the more inexcusable. With over 1,143 Californians dead from gun violence since the Newtown massacre, next time there is a murder with an assault weapon, the Governor will have blood on his hands and have to answer for his vetoes today. This is the kind of cowardly behavior we expect from out NRA-owned elected officials in Washington, not from a California democrat who should know better.

The anti-hunting organizations, however, were quite pleased with Brown for signing AB 711 which banned lead in hunting ammo. The Humane Society of the US led the charge on this and got their wish.

“California has led the nation in creating humane laws, and today’s action by Governor Brown to eliminate lead from hunting ammunition is an incredible victory for wildlife and humans alike,” said Jennifer Fearing, California senior state director for The Humane Society of the United States. “This common-sense law should serve as an example for the rest of the nation on the urgent need to stop releasing this dangerous toxin into the environment.”

Many in the hunting community in California have been divorced from the fights for gun rights as shotguns and bolt action rifles have not been targeted. By signing AB 711, Brown may have finally pushed California hunters to think more about gun rights in general as they are no longer “safe” from the anti-gunners.

Given the length of this post, I’ll save an analysis of Brown’s signing and veto messages for another time.

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65,000 Is A Start. Still Time To Send More

October 4, 2013 by 2 Comments

This morning Brandon Combs of the Firearms Policy Coalition and Craig DeLuz of Cal-FFL delivered 65,000 letters to the office of Gov. Jerry Brown (D-CA) asking him to veto the 14 gun bills sitting on his desk. He has until October 14th to either sign or veto these bills. Bills that he doesn’t veto become law with or without his signature.

image dsc

PHOTO:
Brandon Combs, managing director of the Firearms Policy Coalition,
left, and Craig DeLuz, legislative advocate for California Association
of Federal Firearms Licensees, deliver about 65,000 petitions urging the
governor’s veto of 14 gun bills. Credit: The Sacramento Bee/Christopher
Cadelago. Link to story.

From the Firearms Policy Coalition’s release which includes a link to send a letter to Gov. Brown:

SACRAMENTO, CA — Earlier this morning, Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) Managing Director Brandon Combs, joined by California Association of Federal Firearms Licensees (CAL-FFL) Legislative Advocate Craig DeLuz, delivered 65,000 letters from individuals urging California Governor Jerry Brown to veto the 14 gun control bills currently on his desk.

The gun bills include SB 374, a massive new ban on common semi-automatic rifles authored by Senate President Darrell Steinberg, as well as laws that would ban firearm repair parts, handgun sales, lead ammunition for hunting, and exempt the City of Oakland from longstanding state laws that preempt dangerous localized gun registration schemes, among others.

“We sincerely appreciate the thousands of people who have voiced their concerns to the governor on these anti-gun measures. 65,000 letters sends a very loud-and-clear message: Californians just don’t want these horrible new laws,” said CAL-FFL’s DeLuz of the tremendous turnout by California gun owners.

FPC’s Brandon Combs said that that the fight is far from over and noted that people should keep calling and writing the Governor’s office every day. “We encourage all gun owners and Second Amendment supporters to send Governor Brown a letter through our fast, easy, and free gun rights activism tools at www.DemandRights.com.”

“We will keep printing, faxing, and emailing letters to Governor Brown until the very end,” continued Combs. “Gun owners simply must keep up the pressure for these final few days.”

Governor Brown has until October 14, 2013 to sign or veto the bills. Bills that are not vetoed will become state law. Governor Brown’s State Capitol office phone number is (916) 445-2841.

If stopping these bad bills isn’t enough, you will still have a chance to win a Benelli M4 shotgun that they are giving away to anyone who uses their site to send a message to Gov. Brown. That seems like a win-win to me.