From Firearms Policy Coalition in California:
Earlier this morning, Senate and Assembly Democrats “gutted and amended” 4 bills that were stalled and changed them into 4 brand new, ANTI-GUN measures.
“Gutting and amending” is the controversial practice of stripping out a measure’s contents and replacing it with entirely new language, for a new issue, well into the legislative process.
Here is a list of the new bills and what they will do:
- AB 156: Formerly dealt with global warming, but now places restrictions on ammunition and will be authored by Asm. Kevin McCarty and Sen. Kevin deLeón.
- AB 857: Formerly addressed greenhouse gasses, but now restricts curios, relics, and home-built firearms. It will be authored my Asm. Jim Cooper and Sen. Kevin de Leon.
- AB 1135: Formerly centered around creating the Kings River East Groundwater Sustainability Agency, but is now a broad gun ban. This will now be authored by Assemblymembers Marc Levine and Phil Ting.
- AB 1511: Formerly dealt with energy conservation, but now criminalizes loaning firearms. It is now authored by Asm. Miguel Santiago.
In doing this, they have totally skirted the legislative process. It is shameful that elitist politicians would invoke such secretive procedures in an effort to shove even more gun control down our throats.
But it is not surprising.
Correct. This sort of thing is what we have come to expect. I watched with shock and incredible anger as the Speaker of the House keep the voting open for an extra 10 or 15 minutes past the vote expiration time to get enough votes for the Federal “Assault Weapon” ban in 1994. The Hughes Amendment, banning new sales of machine guns, was “passed” on a voice vote in the early morning hours despite requests for a recorded vote. The anti-gun people have a long and sordid history lies and deception. It is just how they do business.
I can overlook the ignorance of the average “person on the street” who is anti-gun. But I know the politician and anti-gun groups continuously engage in deception and trickery to get their way. I do not forgive them. They should be prosecuted.
Business as usual in Kali… Too bad. It was once a really nice place. I was stationed in the central valley from 1981-1986 (Air Force). The death spiral was already starting when I left.
They do that crap all the time in IL. they actually build up a list of ‘shell bills’ with various names. Former state sen Kotowski added a mag ban amendment to a shell of an anti-child abuse bill.
They can’t win on merit so they have to lie, cheat and steal.
I wonder how many of these things are passed without a legal quorum. Probably a lot. It’s clear that Congress takes many actions in violation of the Constitutional requirement of quorum.
If an anti-gun bill is passed in such a way, every Congressman present at the time should face consequences, including any who pretend to be pro-gun. The reason: they are obviously lying, because if they were honest, they would have spoken up “Mr. Speaker, I suggest the absence of a quorum”. Come to think of it, a Congressman who takes the oath of office seriously (about as rare as a unicorn) would speak those words at every attempt to “pass” something without a legal quorum.
It’s a common practice in the Oregon Legislature, too. Here, it’s called “gut-and-stuffing”, and the only limitation is that by Oregon’s Constitution, the “topic” or “summary” line (e.g. “regarding the environment” or “regarding criminal justice”) must remain the same.
I’ve lost count of how many pro-gun bills (summary: “regarding firearms”) have been vacated of their original content (gutted) and replaced (stuffed) with magazine bans, gun bans, private transfer prohibitions, increased regulation on CCW (both licensing and activity), etc., etc., etc.
And it’s usually the same two or three actors who are responsible for it all.
I’ve been trying to figure out if there’s an “approved” list of summaries, and if they must remain that vague. It’s much harder to “gut-and-stuff” a Constitutional Carry bill (for example) if the summary is not “regarding firearms”, but instead something more specific, like “regarding the unlicensed carry of personal firearms as a free, unabridged right of the people”. The absolute worst thing an anti-gunner could do with that is turn it into a resolution (not a new law or regulation) that says the Legislature does not support such a thing.