“Assemblywoman Melissa A. Melendez (R-Lake Elsinore) announced that her legislation, defending the rights of gun owners, was signed into law by Governor Brown,” ad67.assemblygop.com reports. “Today, we witnessed a rare victory for gun owners across California. By allowing a trustworthy alternative for gun owners to maintain possession of their firearms, we are preventing any unjustified gun grab against those who may be unfairly targeted by bogus allegations.” Uh, no you’re not. Let’s take a closer look . . .
Current law requires a person subject to a gun violence restraining order to either sell their firearms or surrender them to law enforcement. Assembly Bill 950 will allow gun owners to transfer ownership of their firearms to a federally licensed firearms dealer to hold for the duration of a gun violence restraining order. This will allow individuals to painlessly maintain ownership of their firearms after the order has expired.
In other words, the bill does nothing to prevent an “unjustified gun grab” under a Gun Violence Restraining Order; a blatantly unconstitutional law that empowers a judge to order the seizure of a gun owner’s firearm ex parte, in secret, without due process. Hello. We’re here to take your guns. Your estranged wife says you’re a nutter. Sign here, here and here. Oh, and your computer? That’s ours, too. These papers? Them too. Like that.
Melendez’s bill simply makes the confiscation process “less painful.” It will be easier for the subject of a GVRO to get their guns back from a gun dealer than from the government, and more likely that they’ll retrieve their firearms in an undamaged condition. Provided, of course, they pay their gun dealer a non-refundable storage fee. Should Melendez have attempted to make the GVRO more palatable? You tell me.