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Gentlemen,

I know that you are aware of SB 249, introduced by Leland Yee, which ostensibly seeks to regulate the “bullet button.” On first read, the bill appeared to ban assemblies such as magnetic buttons that mount on top of the bullet button, thus converting the legal firearm into an AW [Assault Weapon]. These tools are already illegal to deploy, and this apparent ill-conceived redundancy lulled the active CA firearm community into not taking this bill seriously . . .

However, a more penetrating legal analysis of the matter by Davis & Associates reveals that the bill is far more insidious than first conventionally thought. Aspects of its language can be interpreted very broadly, inclusive of banning the sale, transportation, and possession of any “evil” feature, on the basis that any individual feature or combination of any of these features can potentially put you on the road to constructing an illegal platform.

Despite some initial stagnation, and alleged hesitation on the part of Senator Yee himself, this bill appears to be moving through the legislature. It needs to be stopped.

Here’s what TTAG readers can do to help.

1. Send Sen. Yee a letter of opposition
2. Send Assembly Public Safety a letter of opposition
3. Sign this petition
4. Help the Stop SB 249 Campaign go viral (share with your networks as fast as you can)
5. Contribute financially

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55 COMMENTS

  1. In trying to figure out what these things are and why they’re illegal, I found this article: http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/05/01/bullet-button-used-to-get-around-california-gun-laws/ from which I took this quotation:

    “Every time California tightens up the assault weapons ban, the gun industry finds a way around it. The latest example involves a tiny device.”

    How do the grabbers manage to miss the inevitable next step? If they ever managed to “tighten” their ban enough to strangle the legal gun industry, there would still be a gun industry to circumvent it. It would just be an industry run by criminals, for criminals. Next to the trailer where one guy is cooking meth, would be a shed were another guy is lathing out an unsafe AR clone. Prohibition has never succeeded in preventing people from getting the things they want; it just turns innocent people into criminals.

  2. Naturally this article came from SAN FRANCISCO. One of the most depraved city’s in the most economically deprived State in the country. All Democrats who put themselves in a great big hole! Why it is that jerks that cannot run their OWN States or City’s are telling the rest of America how to run their lives? Everyone my foolish Lib, who owns a gun, is not a crook, thief, or pervert, or bad cook! We save that title for Californians especially gun control nuts from San Francisco!!

  3. None of this really matters because COMMIEFORNIA will fall into the ocean on 12-21-12 and we’ll never hear from these fools again.

    • Actually, we just need San Francisco (where Lee is from) and Los Angeles to fall into the ocean. The rest of our state is pretty much OK with guns. Remember, Reagan and Nixon were both Californians.

  4. What? California is still considered part of the US? Eh, whatever floats your boat.

    Lost cause. If the residents refuse to tar and feather their would-be tyrants, they deserve what they get.

    None of those things we can do to “help” mean anything. What good is sending Yee a letter? He knows exactly what he’s doing and doesn’t care. He knows his subjects won’t do anything. He knows he rules over self-enslaved sheep.

    Letters of grievance mean nothing if they have no teeth. Check the late 18th century to see how to properly follow a letter of grievance served to tyrants.

  5. California is the perfect example of what happens when the inmates run the asylum. The whole state is a political and intellectual write-off, run by insipid morons who screw people for “their own good.” Absoutely abominable. Let it burn.

  6. timeout! the bill says ANY DETACHABLE MAGAZINE would be prohibited. does this include pistols and my trusty Remington 700? it does sound REALLY vague.

    • ok ok i read a little closer:

      any conversion kit, as defined, designed to convert certain firearms with a fixed magazine into firearms with the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and other features making the firearm an assault weapon

      That is really vague though.

  7. many times on this site i have seen people state that there is little difference between the dems and repubs. those are people than have never lived in a dem dominate state like ca. i live with magazine limits, no ebr’s, a hsc to buy a handgun, one handgun a month, a thumbprint for purchasing said handgun. starting in 2014 we have a long gun registry in effect. no concealed carry, no open carry, need i go on. waste your votes on ron paul and don’t support the nra and all the gains made in other states will be wiped out at the federal level by the dems
    i’m old enough to remember when most states did not have shall issue laws and we had to sign for every box of ammo. waste your support on independents that have no real chance of winning and see how fast the rest of you catch up with california.

  8. Has any of the major law groups gotten wind of this yet? They could probably file charges on it the day it gets passed if it does get passed.
    It might keep it in limbo for years that way.

  9. Define “stuck”.  Is there a law preventing you from moving?  Is there a law preventing you from looking for a job somewhere else?
     
    Apparently 271,053,626 people in the country were able to survive not living in the Promised Land.  I’m confident you could too if you wanted to.

  10.  @Totenglocke My wife and I would love to move actually. Texas is a big draw. Work isn’t the issue. She has children from a previous marriage who live with us. Unless she wants to give them up to the father there is no chance he would let us leave the state with them, so yes there is a law.
    I don’t know if you have kids, but simply dumping them is not an option. I don’t mean to sound crass or anything, but you love them so much.
     
    From a personal perspective I have lived in this state for most of my life. I would like to see the state change course in a great many things, so that my children and grand children will have a state that they can live in and feel proud of. It is a sense of pride I guess, that we as Californians will stand up and fight for our liberties and freedoms just like everywhere else. Using petitions, and informing advocacy groups to take up the issue is one method.
     
    If we as Americans dump and run from every piece of bad legislation or law just because it was easy we will eventually loose our rights all together. It is from the hard work of all the gun advocate groups and people like you and me that we can maintain our rights. whether that is for 2A related issues or gay marriage, health care, you name it. It doesn’t matter what side you are on but by pressing the issue as a majority you can change the course.

  11. Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. -— C.S. Lewis

  12. CA has messed up gun laws, but they will only be worse if the anti – freedom machine continues unopposed.

    I just signed the letters and petitions, and I continues to vote with my dollars spent and AR-15 purchases. I’ll continue to mentor others shooters as well. That’s how I will continue to oppose the anti-freedom machine.

    Bad laws here can contribute to bad laws elsewhere. Just look at the ridiculous small arms treaties that NATO supports.
    If your a true 2nd Amendment advocate, have the balls to support freedom wherever you are, and stop giving patriots in liberal states your condescending remarks. Our fight in the liberal states could use your support, not your derision.

    • I agree. I’ve been stuck behind enemy lines in Commiefornia since 2002. I’m hoping to be out in at most 5 years. LA and SF libtards have usurped power, leaving Central Valley and North State(the Republican(good) areas to wither and die. The hipsters ruined CA, I hate them more than anything else. Long Live the State of Jefferson.

  13.  @Sanchanim You’ll never HAVE a majority in California unless you launch a massive campaign to get millions of gun owners to willingly move there and subject themselves to your wretched laws until you have enough migrate to force a change.  California is a lost cause primarily because the people who move there are the trendy douchebag types who are afraid of inanimate objects. 
     
    <cite>It is a sense of pride I guess, that we as Californians will stand up and fight for our liberties and freedoms just like everywhere else.</cite>
     
    I’m sorry, but what liberties and freedoms are you talking about?  The only things I can recall ever hearing Californians fight for are restrictions on freedoms (such as what words you’re allowed to use in public, a persons “right” to not be offended, etc).
     
    Oh, and FYI, plenty of divorced parents live in different states. 

  14.  @Accur81 Seeing how the rest of the country (well, just about) has been getting better gun laws and California has been getting worse gun laws, I’m not too worried about your claims that the rest of the country will self destruct based on CA’s example.
     
    “If your a true 2nd Amendment advocate, have the balls to support freedom wherever you are, and stop giving patriots in liberal states your condescending remarks.”
     
    I also support people’s right to make their own choices.  You’ve made your choice as to where you wish to live, now it’s time to live with the consequences of that choice.  I’ve talked to plenty of other CA gun owners on other forums and I keep hearing the same refrain – “Well, candidate A supports the 2nd Amendment, but I won’t vote for him because he’s opposed to this law mandating that you MUST approve of gay marriage (not just tolerate it), so I’m going to vote for Candidate B instead, even though they hate guns and want to ban them all” or something similar.
     
    Like it or not, you need to choose your priorities in politics.  Most CA gun owners put being a hippie over the 2nd amendment.  They’re the ones you need to be smacking upside the head and yelling at, not those of us in freer states.

    • I have lived in California all my life and there are Republicans, Libertarians, etc. just like any other state here. Yes there is a majority of the left here, just don’t generalize and demonize the entire population based on one persons voting strategy. I belong to many shooting organizations and can tell you that there are folks in California that hold their freedom just as dearly as you do. That’s why I am here supporting this cause just like you. I personalty believe in educating folks with the truth about firearms to get them to change their minds. The real stubborn ones I convince to attend a class at Front Sight in Nevada, where all have returned with a positive opinion about guns. There are those of us here in California that like living here, and who are willing to put up a fight for our constitutional second amendment rights. Fortunately polls indicate that public opinion here is changing in favor of gun rights despite these kinds of laws popping up all the time. We need all the help we can get from our hunting, competing, prepping, reloading, plinking, sporting, and other firearm enthusiast friends to help up with this constant struggle with these poor misguided souls.

  15.  @Totenglocke I agree, it is fighting to take back our liberties that were taken from us years ago. Believe me with some of the crap Sacramento is passing as recently as today, anywhere but here is looking better and better.
     
    Also yes there are many folks who live in different states but simply put the other parent needs to agree to it, that is California law. If they don’t then guess what you are stuck. If you leave then they hunt you down for kidnapping.

  16.  @Sanchanim So California law says that you can never visit your kids again if you move to another state and your ex doesn’t agree? Or do you mean moving and taking the kids with you is against the law without their permission?

  17.  @Accur81 “That’s how I will continue to oppose the anti-freedom machine.”
    And you continue to support it by being part of a SWAT team…

  18.  @Totenglocke It isn’t a visit issue. Basically lets say I get a job in Texas. So I tell my wife get packed were outta here. If the ex husband who has partial custody does not agree, then we can’t leave. If we do, and in fact in the bay area if we leave the nine surrounding bay area counties, so let’s say Southern California we would be in violation. We would then be arrested for kidnapping.
    My wife doesn’t want to give up her kids for summer and holidays only, so it isn’t an option. Personally neither do I.

  19.  @AlecMcDowell I signed the petitions, sent the letters, and posted to Facebook. Hopefully we can get this stopped before it starts. I took the time to read it and it is really broad. It doesn’t say ban a bullet button, much less anything else specific. It does however put us in a position where all of a sudden things are open to interpretation which is another word for abuse.
    I am going to go ahead and order as many AR parts as possible. At least this way I will get them in prior to this nonsense taking affect.

  20. You get the government you vote for. In California a majority voted for the people they have now and the decisions they make. The problem is California calls itself a state of the same union we are part of, and that means they have to abide by certain ground rules. Mr. Yee could care less about the Constitution and it’s ground rules, he’s probably a big fan of how they do things in China with central planning.
    Unless the law is pushed up to the courts CA will live under it. The people don’t care, they didn’t care enough to rein in spending or support candidates for governor who knew what to do about their problems.

    The real problem for the rest of us is their link to the other 49 states, financially and legally. We’ll not only end up swatting these laws off our books but paying for their problems eventually.

    • Not always. Well meaning Republicans gave as Arnold Schwarzenegger and look what that guy did to the State. He was a fool in Pete Wilsons (too big for him) clothes.

  21. I feel sorry for fellow gun lovers in California, but the only solution is to move if you want to keep participating in gun activities.

  22. Crazy ass idea: proposition on the next ballot. We force legislators to pay individually for their unconstitutional laws they pass. Say, anyone who sponsors a law found unconstitutional within 10 years of passage gets fined their share of the amount the government had to pay in the legal fight. And the can’t make a vote in the legislature until they pay the fine. Have to love the fact that propositions are amendments to the CA constitution, and so can’t be overridden by the legislature.

  23. On the subject of being “stuck.” I have many gun-owning friends in the military who have been stationed in California (myself included).

    Many of them, at some point, would have been considered felons by the state simply because they owned something that was perfectly legal in the rest of the country. They had nobody to let keep them out of state, and they sure as shit weren’t going to surrender them to the police, so they just kept them in state and kept their mouths shut.

    You’d think there would be some kind of exemption for military folks who didn’t get a choice but to move there. And there used to be, until CA decided to effectively eliminate it a couple years back by requiring a written letter from the base commander explaining why you had to own those weapons as part of your duties.

    Gotta love freedom.

  24. Used to live there, moved when I realized that the elected officials there control voting districts to the point that no matter how anyone votes, there will be enough liberals in that voting district to over ride common sense.

    The Legislature would rather pass gun control bills than balance the budget. They (and their children) drive (and frequently wreck) taxpayer supplied SUVs (because they are safer) yet engineer laws so the peons must drive “eco-cans” and die in fender benders.

    • Liberals have no common sense, so they want to take away everyone’s choice to live how
      they want to. I’m the only non-liberal in my family, so I get the antigun lecture every day.

  25. i keep seeing those remarks”to just move. it’s your choice.” i wonder if the people making those comments are supportive of the millions of illegals who took that advice, and just moved to the US. my point here is that as americans we need to fight for all of our rights. if our response is to just move we start to run out of places to move to.

  26. Come on guys, help us out. We really could use it. I have helped out when Ohio needed calls to representatives about concealed carry issues, the Florida concealed crap crap that the liar from the NYtimes was making up, and Marylands concealed carry case. We are not a lost cause, we just have really stupid politicians.

    We will be there to help you if you need it, please do the same. we can’t “just move”. I have a great job and my whole family is here.

  27. For those who say “If you don’t like CA gun laws, move!” If too many people take your advice, bills like this won’t face enough opposition and will pass. Then other states will take note, and pass similar legislation. Then they’ll come after _YOUR_ state. So, yeah, just go ahead and keep your head in the sand–cuz that’s where you’ll have to bury your rifle when they come to confiscate it.

  28. I have signed this petition, and donated. I love California (minus the stupid politics). I used to want to move out of this state and let it burn, but a few things have changed my opinion.
    First, California is one of the largest political powers in the united states with 53 out of 435 reps in the house. If California goes full communist, the rest of the country is not far behind. I will stay here on the front lines and fight this battle, so hopefully those in the free states will not have to fight this war.

    Second, the attitudes of those in the free states towards californians suck… as evidenced here. They are willfully ignorant of the fact that Cali has a huge impact on the rest of the country. They will not even support us in getting this bill thrown out. I do not want to bury my head in the sand, as so many in the free states are doing.

    I will stay and fight for Cali. I ask those in the free states to help. I would be happy to have you join us in freeing California from the oppressive idiots running it now. If you are going to tell us that we are a lost cause, I kindly ask that you blow it out your ass.

    • I would like to politely ask my brothers and sisters in the other 49 states to stand with us in this fight against the fascist leftist here who wish to strip us of any and all weapons …. and also I would like to kindly ask the admin to delete the nasty troll above me: dfasdfsdsdfasd
      Thank you.

  29. I would like to thank any of you who are enlightened enough to see that gun rights = civil rights and that if California falls under this spell of special interest politicians authoring insane bills that are deliberately vague, the rest of you eventually will. As gun owners, you have to realize that eventually we will all stand or fall together.

    Also, thank you Robert Farago for bringing up this issue on TTAG.

  30. “First they came for the communists,
    and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.

    Then they came for the trade unionists,
    and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

    Then they came for the Jews,
    and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.

    Then they came for me
    and there was no one left to speak out for me.”

    There are a lot of gun owners in California outside of LA and the Bay area. When they’ve been stripped of all their rights because gun owners in other states didn’t care to say anything, who will be left to stand by you when the Brady’s or the president come for your guns? You can say there are plenty of pro gun states now but once CA is out of the picture, they’ll just pick another target, and another and another until there’s nothing left. We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.

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