California Ammo Law Abusive and Unconstitutional

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In the first half of last year, 589,087 individuals traveled to an ammunition vendor to buy ammunition. They proved their citizenship and residency with identification documents and paid for a background check. The State’s computers rejected 58,087 or 11% of them. This is an average of 322 individuals rejected every day. How many of the 58,087 needed ammunition to defend themselves against an impending criminal threat and how many were simply preparing for a sporting event, we will never know. What is known is that in almost all cases, the 322 individuals that are rejected each day are being denied permission to freely exercise their Second Amendment right — a right which our Founders instructed shall not be infringed.

If any background check system satisfies Bruen’s footnote nine description of a scheme put to abusive ends, as opposed to the system originally approved by the voters, this may be it.

HON. ROGER T. BENITEZ
United States District Judge
January 30, 2024
KIM RHODE, et al., v. ROB BONTA

See also BREAKING! Huge Win In Rhode v. Bonta – CRPA.

Guess the percentage of prohibited persons convicted out of those 58,087 who were rejected. If you said anything more than 0.1% you are out of touch with reality. You should know this sort of thing because this is typical for government laws like this, such as Brady background checks done by the Feds. The actual numbers is ten times lower that that. It is 0.01%.

Special Agent Sidney Jones provided case dispositions for prohibited persons denied the purchase of ammunition between July 1, 2019 and January 31, 2020. During those seven months, 770 ammunition buyers were rejected as prohibited persons. At least sixteen of the 770 persons rejected were later determined to have been incorrectly identified as prohibited persons and should have been authorized to purchase ammunition. See Rhode, 445 F. Supp. 3d at 924. Agent Jones states that those 770 background check rejections prompted 51 investigations that resulted in firearms, magazines, or ammunition seizures. From those 51 investigations, 15 individuals were arrested. In the end, the government obtained four felony and two misdemeanor convictions.

Spoiler alert!

It is all good reading, but the happy ending is (emphasis added):

Therefore, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that:

Defendant Attorney General Rob Bonta, and his officers, agents, servants, employees, and attorneys, and those persons in active concert or participation with him, and those duly sworn state peace officers and federal law enforcement officers who gain knowledge of this injunction order or know of the existence of this injunction order, are enjoined from implementing or enforcing the ammunition sales background check provisions found in California Penal Code §§ 30352 and 30370(a) through (e), and the ammunition anti-importation provisions found in §§ 30312(a) and (b) and 30314(a), as well as the criminal enforcement of California Penal Code §§ 30312(d), 30314(c), and 30365(a).

Gun Rights Activists Sleep Well

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I sleep fine at night because I know peaceable people are not responsible for the crimes of a few monsters, and they just want to preserve their rights guaranteed by the constitution.

I also sleep fine because I know that even though we’ve had guns in the US for our entire history, including repeating arms for well over 150 years, regular mass shootings are only a phenomenon of the last 20 years or so. They happened infrequently or even not at all before Columbine, even though gun laws were far looser and background checks weren’t even a thing for most of our history.

Kostas Moros @MorosKostas
Posted on X March 27, 2023

This was in response to David Hogg claiming to “wonder how the lawyers, employees and lobbyists of the gun lobby can sleep at night.”

There is a lot more to Moros’ response. It’s worth a read.

I sleep at night from knowing genocide is disabled by widespread gun ownership and that same widespread ownership saves far more innocent lives than are criminals enabled to commit murder.

A woman soundly sleeping with her holstered self defense handgun on the nightstand beside her.

Why Americans Own Firearms

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Joe Biden thinks Americans own firearms in case they need to fight the American military. That’s not a thing.

Americans own firearms (in part) so that anyone who tries to bring tyranny to this country will never be safe outdoors, nor will their extended families.

Scott Adams @ScottAdamsSays
Posted on X January 19, 2023

This is just a small part of it. But it is a very significant part of it.

And fighting the military can be a thing. It just would not be a stand up face-to-face fight. The private citizens would chose their targets and times to preserve their own lives and resources while causing the military as much expense as possible. One AP round from a suppressed rifle from 400 yards away can take out a vehicle engine parked in the open. It would take hours to even be noticed. The dollar ratio would 1,000 to one or better.Helicopters and airplanes would have an even higher payback.

Sabotage and destruction of military manufacturing and warehouses of new construction and spares also get a good ratio. And then consider the civilian side of government infrastructure at the ATF, FBI, and the IRS. Think about the ratio of a Molotov Cocktail into a fiber optic communications hut, a few bullets into a substation, or a thermite grenade on a water main to a government building. Just a few people can cause 10’s of millions of dollars of damage per month.

It’s not anything that will result in capitulation after a year, but it will degrade their ability to be tyrants and decrease moral.

The primary targets will become more and more vulnerable as the living conditions and life spans of their minions degrade.

A thermite grenade burning through a water main

Mark W. Smith/#2A Scholar @fourboxesdiner

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The early Americans tolerated all sorts of bad experiences from King George III, but when he decided to take the guns, it was Revolution Time. In April 1775, when the Redcoats left Boston to march to Lexington/Concord, they were not marching to rape and pillage the countryside….. No, they were intent on confiscating the Americans guns.

Mark W. Smith/#2A Scholar @fourboxesdiner
Tweeted on October 29, 2023

And we are tolerating all sorts of bad experiences now. The confiscation of guns would be a similar spark to the one in 1775.

Lessons Learned

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So far we’ve had two countries come to the stark realization that they simply cannot arm an otherwise largely disarmed populace fast enough to effectively deal with invaders.

Yet “gun control” cultists here still want to repeat those same mistakes. They’re incapable of learning.

In Chains @InChainsInJail
Tweeted on October 9, 2023

The primary point is probably valid. But I believe the gun control cultists want invaders and anything else which will bring down our country. Gun control is just a symptom of a much bigger agenda.

The lesson they will/have learned from the Ukraine and Israel is that disarmament of U.S. private citizens is a good first step.

The lesson the general population needs to learn is that private citizens need unincumbered access to military arms.

Crazy Talk! Or is it?

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Why do Republicans still fight for their beliefs knowing they will be wiped out, like any other minority group in history? Their beliefs are archaic and improper, so why fight against the advancement of the human species?

Anonymous question from Quora
2023

You have to wonder… Yes, it is crazy talk. But, it could be Russian or other bad guy trying to stir things up. Or it could be just some troll getting their jollies. But it also has a small chance of being someone sincerely believing what they are saying and not afraid to say, “the quiet part out loud”. Hitler’s Mein Kampf wasn’t taken serious by the majority of people when it was first written either but within a few years the mindset took over a nation.

Ideas are more dangerous than tools…

Chicago Arrest Rate is 5%

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The decision to commit a crime in Chicago has never been easier. Criminals are almost guaranteed to profit because the chances of getting caught and punished have collapsed to near-zero.

image

Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner
September 5, 2023
Chicago criminals have green light to rob, loot, burgle as odds of punishment collapse to near zero.

It seems all the major “blue” cities are getting overrun by criminals. And those criminals are not just the politicians. The criminal politicians appear to be deliberately catering to their constituents, the thugs, to the detriment of the peaceable citizens.

I just want retreat to my underground bunker in Idaho for a decade or two and wait for things to get better.

By Gun

Random Thought of the Day

Anti-gun people spend a lot of time telling others how afraid of being shot they are for themselves and “the children”. In other words, they spend a lot of time thinking about dying by gunshot. They project that fear onto gun people saying, “What are you so afraid of that you need a gun?”

That is markedly different than my thought patterns. I think about protecting myself and other innocent people by being proficient with a gun. I almost never have a fear of being a victim of a criminal attack.

Antigun people think about dying by gun. Gun people think about protecting life by gun.

No, the ATF Cannot Legally Regulate “Ghost Guns”

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Political observers expect the Washington Post and the New York Times to carry water for Joe Biden’s Department of Justice gun control agenda. It’s surprising when the conservative National Review seemingly bends over backwards to defend the weaponized agency in a poorly researched and written piece.

On August 9, National Review published an item with the confident title “Yes, the ATF Can Legally Regulate Ghost Guns.” The ill-informed piece was written by a summer intern. If it was an unpaid internship, the publication got every penny’s worth.

NRA-ILA
August 21, 2023
National Review Wrong on ATF Frame or Receiver Rule

Words matter. And when those words are legislative law they matter even more. The ATF, and this summer intern, are ignoring and/or deliberately misreading the word of law.

Ignoring the word of law and/or deliberately misreading by politicians and judges should be a punishable offense. And in some cases it is. But of course, that law is there just to make us think we have some protection against those who use the power of government to deny us our rights. That’s not reality. The reality is, that ultimately, you have to defend your own rights. That is why we have the 2nd Amendment.

The BEST Defensive Weapon

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For at least a hundred years the debate has raged and gun writers have written, ad nauseum, over the preferred defensive tool. The only point everyone can agree is: the BEST defensive weapon is a firearm, but it is totally useless unless accessible when defense is needed.

Chuck Klein
June 30, 2023
OFF-DUTY CARRY,
A SURVEY AND ANALYSIS OF CURRENT LE PRACTICES

And those who are opposed to the carry of firearms make their intentions abundantly clear. They are motivated to have you defenseless.

Don’t Bring a Pitchfork to a Sword Fight

Via email from pkoning:

71-year-old homeowner’s gun jams when confronting alleged burglar armed with a pitchfork, so he draws his sword: ‘He just saw red’

A 71-year-old man and his 61-year-old wife returned to their home in Seattle’s North Beacon Hill neighborhood around 1:30 p.m. Sunday to find the place in disarray. The kitchen window was shattered. Various items were out of order. The homeowner ventured farther inside to find the culprit lurking in his living room, wielding a pitchfork.

The suspect followed the homeowner into the bedroom and wrestled him for control of the gun. Despite the alleged burglar’s best efforts, the homeowner managed to break free long enough to draw down on him. He aimed true and pulled the trigger, but the suspect was left still standing. The gun had jammed.

Since lead didn’t work, the homeowner opted for steel.

Police indicated that after his firearm failed him, the 71-year-old drew his samurai sword and skewered the suspect.

I would prefer backup guns to back up swords. That’s the good thing about the Second Amendment. It guarantees you can have either or both if you want.

This is Not Bad Faith

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In fairness, some ghost guns are also produced by the criminal element. And it’s also true that these firearms have become increasingly popular amongst prohibited possessors. But in a country that has largely traded any real concern for order, public safety, or property rights for legalized shoplifting, mass encampments of homeless drug addicts, and civil rights patronage schemes, one must remember that our government is simply acting in bad faith when it comes to gun laws like 05F.

If it were important to the government to stop gun crime, they would focus their efforts on St. Louis or Baltimore. But it’s not important to the government to stop these crimes, it’s important to the federal government to stop you from being able to defend yourself from them.

Lee Enphield
June 9, 2023
Ghost Guns Come Back to Haunt the Biden ATF

It is far beyond bad faith. They enable crime and then insist the victims not be allowed to defend themselves from the criminals. This is evil.

There is a solution to evil. The G0: 0% PISTOL.

A Simple Dichotomy

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To me, the debate comes down to a simple dichotomy:

With an armed population, we run the risk of tragedies. With a disarmed population, we run the risk of genocide.

It staggers my imagination that, so very soon after the mass killings of the 20th century, so many people have lost sight of this.

Daniel Schwartz
May 28, 2023
Comment to Gun Control is About the Oppression of Minorities

I have nothing to add.

Smart Federal Gun Control

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By “ Wealthy Nations “ you mean France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Poland, Italy, and such?

The same nations the United States and others had to fight to liberate from fascist dictators? The same nations that saw extermination camps to remove people that were seen as undesirable? A genocide far outstrips any gun massacre?

Let’s not mention that these nations today don’t for fill their promised contributions to the defense of their nation, instead depending on the United States for protection?

I’m sure they feel so superior sitting on the sidelines telling us how to live.

Grant Sulham
April 28, 2023
In answer to the question:

Will Americans have to come to terms with their rights to own and bear arms to stem gun massacres over time and join other wealthy nations with smart federal gun control laws and regulations?

I strongly suspect many of the questions on Quora are trolls or people creating questions for something they want to write about. Still, I like the answer.

A more succinct answer would be:

We have smartest federal gun control law in the world. It is called the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, “… the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

How’s that Gun Control Working in England?

Where there is a market there will be a supplier:

Aman will appear in court after National Crime Agency officers uncovered what they believed to be a specialist factory in south London for converting blank-firing guns into lethal weapons using 3D printed parts.

Unfortunately the criminals will be far more likely to acquire the firearms than their intended victims. This is for two reasons:

  1. They are less inhibited by the law than the average person.
  2. They know the general population will be unarmed, and hence the armed criminal will gain a huge advantage over their victims.

Washington State Criminals Ban Firearms in Common Use

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One or more lawsuits challenging this legislation will almost certainly be filed within days, if not hours, of Gov. Jay Inslee’s signing. Ultimately, we expect this law to be nullified by the courts as a violation of the Second Amendment and Washington State’s constitution. In the meantime, of course, Evergreen State gun owners will continue to be treated like second-class citizens by the self-righteous zealots behind the ban, while the criminal element will remain undeterred and unencumbered.

Alan Gottlieb
CCRKBA Chairman
April 9, 2023
CCRKBA: ‘WASHINGTON LEGISLATURE PUTS POLITICS OVER CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS’

These criminals view the State and Federal constitutional guarantees of certain rights and SCOTUS decisions as bugs, not features.

Prepare and respond appropriately.

The Exercise of Their 2nd Amendment Rights Would Have Prevented This

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Walmart has long been harshly criticized by the city’s left-wing politicians & residents. This shutdown follows the consequences of the 2020 BLM-Antifa riots that normalized urban criminality.

Andy Ngo
March 2, 2023
Walmart to close ALL Portland stores in March

Antifa should have been dealt with much differently. I place just as much blame on the politicians who failed to do their jobs to protect the rights of the victims.