by I’ll say right off the bat that I don’t understand policies and procedures in California. While it is a beautiful state with bad roads and even worse gun laws, their legal and administrative procedures are a bit of a mystery to me. When I received the notice below from the Firearms Policy Coalition, I wondered why a petition with signatures was being served on the attorney general. After I started to read the petition – written by a North Carolina lawyer no less! – I started to understand that citizens and groups in California use petitions to put government officials on legal notice about their action. In this case, it has to do with underground and unpublished firearms regulations that the California Court of Appeals had enjoined AG Xavier Becerra (D-CA) from enforcing.
You can read the release along with the link to the petition below:
SACRAMENTO, CA (May 23, 2018) — Today, civil rights
advocates at Firearms Policy Coalition have
issued the following statement:Recently, Attorney General Becerra said, “Here in
California, we respect the Constitution and follow the law.”
But neither is true.This morning, our Legislative Advocate, Craig DeLuz, served
on California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and his
Department of Justice a petition challenging their illegal
underground regulation. This petition was also sent to
the Office of Administrative Law, the state’s regulatory
watchdog agency.In spite of an unanimously-decided Court of Appeal
published opinion issued in February, and a permanent
injunction issued weeks ago, Becerra’s DOJ continues to
promulgate and enforce that same illegal underground
regulation. Their stunning and troubling disregard for lawful
court orders is contrary to the rule of law.Becerra’s weaponized Department of Justice regularly
attacks the fundamental rights and property of law-abiding gun
owners in law enforcement actions, their lobbying of the
Legislature, and litigation.Indeed, Becerra and his army of anti-gun DOJ lawyers and
special agents ignore the text of the Constitution and
California’s statutes, forcing their anti-gun agenda on
millions of people—the law and civil rights be damned.Becerra also recently said that, “in California, we believe
our communities are safest when we have trust between our law
enforcement & the communities they serve.” But such trust
is impossible, and undeserved, when the state’s top law
enforcement officer shows a total lack of regard for the
People, their rights, and the laws he has a duty to follow and
enforce fairly.If Attorney General Becerra and the Department of Justice
want to build trust and be respected, they should start by
being trust-worthy and giving respect to law-abiding gun
owners and their fundamental, individual right to keep and
bear arms.