TTAG reader Jonathan Jenkins writes . . .
California Senator Anthony Portantino is back at it with a new “campus safety” bill that he says is aimed at preventing school shootings.
“With common sense proactive measures, we can prepare educators and parents to identify red flags and ultimately prevent tragedies,” Portantino said. “In many cases of a school shootings there were warning signs. Recent events in Michigan show that there sometimes is hesitancy in acting on them, which could lead to tragic results. It is my hope to take the politics and hesitancy out of the equation and give school districts the mandate they need to investigate and act on discernable threats. Knowing and understanding the signs of potential gun violence can help prevent it. Making information available to schools will help them assess threats and educating parents on the importance of safe storage will make homes safer, too.”
While billed as allowing schools to search student backpacks, buried in SB-906’s text is a requirement that parents enrolling their children in school submit an annual form that includes . . .
- A check box on a form used to enroll or register a pupil that indicates whether any firearms are located at the home of the pupil.
- Questions about the ownership, storage, and accessibility by the pupil of any firearms located at the home of the pupil.
(emphasis added)
Will school administrators also ask about the presence and storage of prescription drugs, kitchen knives, chainsaws, or throwing axes in the home? Of course not, because Senator Portantino sings only one tune with his single-track mind and legislative history.
No word yet on whether the required enrollment form will have to be signed under penalty of perjury, or can be safely ignored…because of course it will pass here in the People’s Republic.
The Firearms Policy Coalition released the following statement regarding Portantino’s bill, calling it an “outrageous proposal to intrude into the private lives of law-abiding citizens, another California-style authoritarian act to hurt people and undermine centuries of constitutional law and traditions” . . .
The right to privacy, especially in our homes, is deeply rooted in our tradition and the constitutions of California and the United States. Anyone with a basic understanding of civil rights can see that California Senate Bill 906 is unconstitutional and bad policy. Senator Portantino, an anti-rights extremist, simply doesn’t care about your rights or privacy. This insane proposal was engineered by Senator Portantino to weaken the very constitutional limits We the People placed on our governments and requires that parents provide the government with information about their personal self-defense choices.
While we hope that California’s Legislature and Governor Newsom would see this bill for the awful policy it is and put it in the garbage can, Firearms Policy Coalition is ready and willing to immediately challenge this bill in court should it be passed and signed into law. The government should get out of our bedrooms and out of our gun safes.
