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By Dr. Vino

Many who read this fine blog are wont to write off California, its increasingly insane anti-gun laws and, in the process, California gun owners who, despite our opposition, get steamrolled to one extent or another each legislative session. Case in point: With the new year, we lose the single-shot exemption which made it possible to buy new 4th Generation GLOCKs or Stoner and Kalashnikov pattern pistols. Another new obstacle to firearms ownership in the People’s Republic of California is the annoying Firearms Safety Certificate. It’s supposed to replace the Handgun Safety Certificate and cover long guns as well. Prior to January 1, 2015 . . .

safety certificates were only required for handgun purchases. More recently, if one wanted to buy a handgun, they went through a background check, registration and waiting period. And then some. To initiate the purchase, one had to present a valid Handgun Safety Certificate which was obtained by passing the Handgun Safety Test. The handgun is registered to the purchaser’s name recording make, model and serial number.

The study guide is only available in English and Spanish. Not Vietnamese, Russian, Hebrew or German and at times seems to promote a borderline hoplophobic attitude towards guns. The pleasure of jumping through this bureaucratic hoop costs about $25 and the card was good for five years. But wait…there’s still more! Prior to taking possession of the handgun, Californians also need to perform a “Safe Handling Demonstration.”

Until December 31st, 2014, Californians seeking to exercise a semblance of freedom could purchase a long gun after going through a background check and then putting their property in firearms purgatory for 10 days. This wait was a “cooling off period” that stopped Elliot Rodger last year. It’s the same waiting period which has been recently ruled unconstitutional. That ruling, of course, doesn’t sit well with America’s Best-Looking Attorney General, who’s appealing it.

So no “safety certificate” was required for long gun purchases until today. But for the last year — and to the glee of the Mexican president and his Federales — each long gun purchased in California and other border states had its make, model and serial number registered with the CA DOJ.

To obtain a hunting license in the Plundered State, we have to take an 8-hour class on “hunting safety”. Then pass a test. No license without the “Hunters Safety Certificate”. Then we have the privilege of paying the requisite license and tag fees. The curriculum of the class and questions on the test addressed, explicitly, the issues of safe carrying, handling, loading and unloading, shooting and storage of firearms. In general, these practices went beyond measures mandated by law.

As recently as December 30th, two of the three FFLs I spoke with could not tell me about the cost, process or whether valid Handgun Safety Certificates or Hunting Safety Certificates would be acceptable substitutes. One FFL seemed confident that the Firearms Safety Certificate would be essentially the same test. 

It seems that the Hunting Safety Certificate (which I obtained a little over two years ago) and the Handgun Safety Certificate (which I obtained a little over a year and a half ago) – both of which were supposed to ensure I know how to safely handle and store my firearms – may be grandfathered in. I hope so, because my knowledge of the laws and safe handling and storage practices didn’t just vanish into thin air at midnight last night. I would like to think that those who spout off about “reasonable” measures would, in fact, be reasonable. 

As the floats in Pasadena are rushed to Orange Grove Blvd before the flowers wither and wilt in the unusually low temperatures today, California’s gun owners, potential gun owners and gun retailers are in the dark about the finer points of the new process of gun ownership in this state. Here is a real-world example of how this expanded set of rules and regulations imposes undue burdens and restrictions on exercising one’s Second Amendment rights:

In 1997, my wife bought a Smith & Wesson Model 642 Airweight. She’d been shooting with friends but, in hindsight, feels she made a bad decision. The gun, with its 7 to 8 pound double action only pull, is hard to aim and control for her. She’d put less than an hundred rounds through it and kept it for home defense for all these years. Finally, we decided to sell it.

After taking it to the range I went to clean it and found that the frame was cracked under the barrel. I sent it to S&W for repairs in November. A week ago, I spoke to S&W and they said that they would not have it ready until after the first of the year.

Since they will replace the frame, they will be returning a firearm with a different serial number. After I explained that my plan was to sell the gun and get something else, they indicated that they could send us a different model. In either case, the gun would have to be transferred via an FFL. As my wife is the person to whom the original gun was registered, she would have to take possession.

But she doesn’t have a valid Handgun Safety Certificate. So in addition to paying the background check to receive a new firearm (replacing one she’d owned for 17 years), she now has to obtain an HSC. She has been shooting with me and has shot a number of different guns. In all that time, I’ve been there to make sure she observed proper safe handling practices. We discuss pertinent gun laws. We store our firearms safely.  The only thing to be gained by her having to go through the time and expense of obtaining an HSC and background check is for the state to take in about $70. Public safety won’t be advanced. The FFL will have to spend time processing the transfer and store the firearm in their facility for the 10-day wait.

Those who live in free states will perform their perfunctory eyeroll and shoulder shrug, make some comment about California being crazy, its gun owners deserving the legislature they have and move on with their lives assuming this will never happen to them. The most populous state in the union, however, has more say in their lives than they’d like. Whether it’s by precedent, example or number of congressional seats, what happens here shouldn’t be dismissed. As goes California, so goes the nation. Or something like that.

We’ve been steamrolled. We became boiled frogs largely because those things which turned out to be credible threats to liberties were initially dismissed with shrugs and an eyerolls.

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122 COMMENTS

  1. Ummm… why would anyone buy one of those “single-shot” guns??? Seriously. Why?
    People in California will spend $2k for a single shot .45 or .223???

    • They can be converted to semi auto legally by the new owner.

      It was a way to get around the unconstitutional infringement that is the approved handgun list in commiefornia.

      To Californian gun owners, we don’t hate you. You don’t deserve what has happened, but the coastal city politics are unrelenting. It will definitely take multiple court cases to restore gun rights in California.

  2. So what about those of us that don’t live in the state, but on occasion go to see friends over there and do some shooting on their land?

    I would think all of these safety courses would benefit people who don’t handle firearms, more than those that do.

    • There aren’t any safety courses required, just safety certificates. So when I got my handgun safety certificate the FFL just hands me the incredibly easy test and takes my $25 and gives me the HSC card. The real danger is that this is just laying the framework for something more like New York or Conn. Start with something that is a minor inconvenience and additional fee (first $25 once for life, then once every 5 years, etc) to get the foot in the door

      • I believe that, and consider that a good explanation. Another would refer to the camel’s nose under the tent. “What is the problem with a 10 cent a box tax on ammunition?” The problem is that if you have the power to impose a 10 cent tax, you have the power to impose a $1000 tax on a box of ammo. After 10 years of a 10 cent tax with no arguments as to authority, you have been toasted when it suddenly climbs to $1000. The authority is an “established fact”. And your rights are gone.

    • The purchasing laws only apply to Cali residents. If you are not a resident you can own whatever you want (since by not being a resident you prove you are not insane ipso facto), provided it doesn’t break the AWB, 10 round limit, or CHL law. Military stationed in Cali is also specifically exempted from registration of firearms that do not break those laws.

      • I’m not worried about owning stuff, I live in Arizona. I stopped bringing my guns to CA a long time ago, specifically right after the police showed up when I was at my in-law’s ranch. Supposedly someone on a distant highway heard gunfire, forget the fact that it was in rural northern CA (central actually, but that’s a nuance for people that live in the state). The police wanted to run everyone on the property through their system, inspect each firearm, and look around the property before they would leave. It wasn’t the right way to handle the situation on their end, especially since we hadn’t broken any laws. It was even worse that it was city police fishing for problems 30 miles outside of town.

        I’m just worried about the direction it’s going there. My wife would love to live closer to her family, but the political environment is so toxic that it’s suffocating everyone that lives outside the metropolises, and I just don’t want to deal with it. I had a small glimmer of hope, with the push to break the state into smaller one, but that’s been an ongoing battle since the ’40’s, so I didn’t expect that much from it.

        • Why didn’t you all ask that they get a warrant? I wouldn’t ever agree to let police on a fishing expedition from 30 miles away free reign to wonder through my home looking around.

        • Honestly I wrote this big, long response to you, but decided not to post it. It just sounded too anti-cop, and I support the law enforcement, especially when they’re doing the right thing in a hard situation with not a whole lot of love. This situation wasn’t one of those and all you can do is peacefully comply, and document it if at all possible (covertly is better).

        • >> It just sounded too anti-cop, and I support the law enforcement

          If you have ever read The Gulag Archipelago, there’s an interesting angle there where high-ranking communists who were purged in the 1930s would often not dare criticize the Party even when they were given a sham tribunal and a death sentence, because, well, it’s the Party!

        • I guess the community pressure there must be great, or something, I’m afraid I would have fired up the GoPro and refused to allow the search. If they then use force of arms (there is no other description) to force their way into my home, I will have the video and audio, if I survive. If they went and got a warrant, I would be ready to bring charges if they lied about probable cause. Laying down and allowing unconstitutional actions is not the way to stop them.

    • I’ve wondered about that. I remember reading about proposed legislation that would have made it a crime to bring a non-California-registered firearm into the state — did that get put into law?

  3. If we don’t remain vigilant this could be all of our future tale, seriously, so many times I’ve read or heard different people throughout history say “I never thought it could happen here”. We need to realize, it can happen, anywhere.

    • Yes, it has already started in WA. We are at the mercy of Puget Sound progressives. Just hope the I594 disease doesn’t spread.

      • I agree. Maryland is at the mercy of the Progressives in three counties and Baltimore City. The rest of the state wants to secede.

  4. Hmmm.
    With the changes you’re describing, does it affect hunting licensing?
    I’m taking my Master Hunters course here and it’s supposed to be “57” state compliant. I want to go to Nor-Cal to hunt hogs.

    Sorry it’s gone so full retard down there. It’s going to take a while to get it back.

    • Not sure.
      IIRC, as long as I keep my basic license current, I’m good.
      Check with the CA Dept of Wildlife (formerly CA Dept of Fish & Game).

    • No. Hunting licenses have not been changed.

      Briefly, before January 1st to BUY a handgun in California you needed to get a handgun safety certificate. The FFL usually gave you this (no need to take a class or go to a government office), after taking a brain dead easy quiz and paying $25. It was good for 5 years.

      Starting today, you need a firearms safety certificate to BUY a longgun or handgun. Not to possess or use or own. The FFL will still give you this after a simple quiz and a $25 fee.

      You are exempt from this if

      1. You have an unexpired handgun safety certificate and the purchase is a handgun
      2. You have a hunting license and the purchase is a longgun

      There are other exemptions (as for LTC holders, military and those honorably discharged, etc)

    • Because people have jobs, property and extended families here.

      But you totally miss the point. Leaving only further entrenches the antis and strengthens their position.

      • As Another Doctor put it to me way back in the 80’s.. When you have had enough, you will leave.. until then, you will keep making excuses and rationalizing your current situation, and I will keep listening to you do it, because you need someone to convince, even if you have to pay them to hear it.

        • I have a feeling that doctor had enough right after he retired.
          The fact of the matter is that my 87 year old mother in law is reliant on my wife and does not want to move. I have kids from my first marriage just a few miles away.
          Then there’s the fact that I can be in Malibu at the beach and in Big Bear on the ski slopes in one day.
          The weather is great. You can grow just about anything here.
          It’s my state too.
          I fled one statist rat nest when I was a child. The decision was not mine and the system was entrenched. There was no culture of personal liberties, no Bill of Rights, no Constitution. I was a 10 year old kid and could not do a damned thing about what was going on. But I am still young enough to fight for this.

        • @Fuque-
          Instead of the mindset of “move out”, why don’t you advocate “move there” and help populate the 2A side further (local, state, fed leadership & representation) to counter the antis?

        • @SteveO Why move there and add to the tax base of the leftists? If enough leave, the congressional seats will be reduced helping things on a national level, also it would just accelerate the implosion of the state, and allow for a better place to be built from the ruins. I understand not wanting to move for various reasons, but misery loves company, and those of us in our states prefer not to be miserable even if in a beautiful environment. In the meantime, Californians will either move, and enjoy life in a free state, or stay and gripe.

        • “I fled one statist rat nest when I was a child. The decision was not mine and the system was entrenched. There was no culture of personal liberties, no Bill of Rights, no Constitution.”

          DrVino, the situation you (and others) describe in CA is like this; There is no culture of personal liberties, no Bill of Rights, no Constitution. That decision was not yours, and the system is entrenched. So far, you would be allowed to escape, but that is not guaranteed forever. To my knowledge, CA is the only state with its very own border guards.

        • so you move and the BS follows. you move again, and those left pass more BS.

          then there’s no place to move.

      • Thank you for putting it so simply. I personally can leave Kommieforina. But I’m a head strong Scot, I was born here 6.7 decades ago and dammit this is MY STATE and I want it back. Only cowards run, I’m neither a coward nor can I run. Support CalGuns, the NRA and CalGuns Foundation.

    • We all abandon CA, the most populous state in the union, and leave it with it’s “reasonable gun laws and safety restrictions” in place and we admit defeat and encourage the grabbers nationwide.

      I’ve said it before. Gun control will never be broken in America until its broken in CA.

      Instead of encouraging us to leave you and the other POTG in America need to do the right thing. Move here, turn CA into Arizona for gun rights.

        • Yep, Rawles American Redoubt. Reminds me a lot of a reservation. Ask folks with experience of a rez how that worked out for them.

      • Typical Californian reply…..Yeah all rez’ have a cabelas and walmart… It’s got as much economic power as any other place in the country.. it’s the political climate that sets it apart, you wouldn’t like it there, they dont buy into the victim status.

        • Fuque, say you get your wish. Millions of freedom lovers migrate to those nearly empty states. Then what? There’s a reason they’re nearly empty now. How does the economy and infastructure handle this influx? And if millions of them migrate from CA, NY, Il how long before they start to vote in new roads, new schools, new police and new taxes?

          Go, run and hide in your dream reservation. The rest of us will deal with reality.

          Cabela’s and Walmart. Might be the only employer in the area. We have bass pro and wal mart in CA. Wouldn’t want that to be my only job option.

      • Its crazy, right? Last I checked Cali has the largest population of gun owners. How did they bring this on themselves? Was it all Reagan’s fault?

        • There’s 8 million +or – of us here. There’s 28 million + or – of them. Ronald Reagan has been dead for enough years not to blame him.

          It’s really simple. All rights are individual rights. What we have in CA is tyranny of the majority. My rights being denied by the majority here is no different than slavery being reinstated in Georgia by a ballot referendom next election cycle.

          It’s illegal, immoral and unjust. And apparently it’s ok with some gun owners so long as the statist leave them alone. But they won’t.

      • I love the desert and would get along very well in certain parts of California but I don’t think I’d make it for long. I’m too outspoken and it would be a matter of time before someone would say I’m a danger because I say the word “patriot” and quote Jefferson. I would get one of those removal of right restraining orders and well as that goes… If anybody comes to ones home and hopes to take their rights away I believe they should be repelled with lethal force. No matter what right or who it is. Red, white, yellow, black, or even blue. And that would be my stay in California.

        • I am taking it you have never been to California?

          See within California we trash it all the time. But we get defensive of our homeland when outsiders criticize it, partially because of the same mentality one has with family (its screwed up but its ours), and partially because the criticisms outside of California are so ignorant and so detached from reality that it becomes annoying.

          The laws, e.g., are bad enough with virtually everyone outside California getting them wrong, making them sound even worse than they are. I have said it before, often the intent of these dumb laws is not compliance but psychological victory. If you already have the public perception that the laws already required more than they do, it is easier to make the laws require more appealing to closing “loopholes” and the like.

          As far as leaving California? Would if I could. But look up what happened with the Irish-Catholic flight out of the Castro district in SF… yep really won the war with that one (hint: it was instrumental in the victory of homosexual activists and takeover of SF… regardless of your opinion about that being negative or positive, they won because opponents simply left)

        • Joshua, I have spent plenty of time in CA, even found I liked San Diego, reminded me of Austin, I decided it would do as a home except for one thing-it was in CA. Visited friends there the last time I was in the state, 10-15 years ago, my friends now live in AZ. Before that trip, the previous time was on a motorcycle trip with my bride around 1983. We stopped just before the NV/CA border to tank up our bikes, and went through the northeast corner of CA and into OR without putting a foot on the ground. CA has been a pit for at least 40 years, and is getting nothing but worse. Be forewarned.

    • Somebody has to fight the good fight. There is a lot more wrong with CA than just bad gun control. High taxes, Dem super majority, illegal immigration running rampant. It’s like NY with good weather, for a lot of the same reasons.

      • Yes!

        You, JWM, and Dr. Vino get it.

        Thanks Dr. Vino for putting out the message on the end of “single shot exemption” as of today. I can hardly wait for next years assault on our 2A protected activities. This is how it has been here in CA for way too long now, and how other Democrat Dickinsonian DeLeontard initiatives will continue to be repeatedly resurrected by these rabid antigun provocateurs every year until they get passed and signed by a friendly anti-gun governor.

        Unless something turns, as long as the liberal coastal cities continue to be over represented in the *both* sides of the statehouse, it will continue. That leaves us with only the court system, or loud objection and good fortune, for a remedy.

    • I’d do the opposite, if I thought the Free State of Jefferson still had a chance. If someone could figure out how many additional votes it would take to make that a reality, and enough people signed on to move there to provide those votes, I’d make the move.

      Though I’d want the Free State of Jefferson to adopt Oregon’s version of freedom of expression.

      • New states can only be created by an act of Congress. Furthermore, when a state is formed by separating a part of an existing state or joining two existing states, such an act requires the consent of the legislature of both states involved. So not only you’d need 50% of votes in both chambers in all states from which the hypothetical State of Jefferson would be formed (good luck with Washington and Oregon!), but you’d also need 50% of the votes in both chambers of the federal Congress. And given how repartitioning the states affects the balance of power on the federal level (with new Senate seats and presidential electors) – it ain’t going to happen, ever.

  5. TTAG, please stop with the video ads that are designed to get around pop up blockers.
    Hearing, MEAT STICKS YEA, screaming out of speakers every few seconds while trying to read this article is beyond annoying, and I like slim jims, but annoying me isn’t the way to get me to buy any.
    I often hand to close the TTAG tab simple because a audio ad will start blaring.

      • At least you can touch another persons guns here, unlike WA. A friend and I are thinking about hunting some pigs, and we can borrow suitable rifles from another friend for the duration of the season, no paperwork required (though to cover that persons ass, we will have current certifications). And the cases to make things more reasonable are working their way through the courts, so, for example, the state may well go shall issue in another year or two.

        • I heard a discussion not long ago about a possible way around that whole silliness: form a trust, and assign ownership of the firearms to the trust, and then anyone who is a member of the trust could handle/use any of the firearms belonging to any other member of the trust. I’m not sure that would work under Washington law, though.

        • Well, I’m not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TTAG, but I can’t see how it could NOT apply in WA. I have a firearms trust, and I still don’t understand what it is, really.

      • I’m running ad block plus.
        Every once in awhile, and only on TTAG, an audio ad gets through, and since I have music playing from my computer over the household speakers, I get to hear “MEAT STICKS YEA”, “MEAT STICKS YEA”, “MEAT STICKS YEA” until I run in and close down TTAG.

        • Drew, I have read entire posts. Turn your speakers off. You will hear no further ads. This is not rocket science, read entire post! Turn your speakers off. Speakers are not used on TTAG, so turn them off.

  6. When’s that Earthquake from the movie “2012” gonna happen? I’m pretty sure it’d be considered divine intervention.

  7. “We’ve been steamrolled. We became boiled frogs largely because those things which turned out to be credible threats to liberties were initially dismissed with shrugs and an eyerolls.”

    Disagree. California is where it is legally because the average urban voter is uncomfortable with firearms .

    Its a cultural custom which has become law-hating guns is just what good thinking, civic minded folk there do. They believe that because their neighbors and their neighbors’ neighbors believes the same way. They have thus rubber stamped and supported anything related to firearm violence regulation because by default it MUST be a good thing.Because people like us gun owners don’t live there, the ignorance propegates without limit.

    To change that dynamic, we must change the culture. We need a Beretta boutique on Rodeo Drive. We need doctors and lawyers on downtown Figueroa debating M&Ps versus Glock . We need blondes on Hollywood blvd. comparing designer ads on AR15s like they do for shoes and dresses. People already do that in most of the US, we just need to make that cultural change happen in California.

    • “hating guns is just what good thinking, civic minded folk there do”
      Disagree. I live in a coastal metropolis. The gun ranges here serve that metropolis.
      There are a LOT of gun people in them there buildings…

    • @ST, you are spot on about changing the culture. That’s what the NRA attempted this year with their video and online magazine series’ like the Noir show, the women’s show, Sharp daily, etc. They get that it needs to be trendy and fashionable and there needs to be good looking, cool people into it.

      I think the explosion of AR15 accessories, rifles, and gear is helping. So many people are falling in love with the platform and customization and it’s becoming more mainstream. That’s why you won’t hear me trash talk Jesse James for getting into the AR production game because I may not like his stuff but it will help make it more fashionable/cool. That’s what we need! It needs to be so trendy that even liberals are attracted to the idea of owning a cool firearm and some of them give in and get one…then it spreads!

    • It’s not all about cultural discomfort with guns.

      SOME of the Democrat politicians go big on the anti gun drama, but for many more it is a party platform drag along position that they avoid at all costs because they recognize the divisiveness it creates among their district’s voting residents.

      Most of these Democrat representatives get elected because of their perceived position on OTHER nanny state and entitlement positions. Being obligated to the party platform, voting for anti gun measures is not always something they want to advertise.

      Many Democrats make absolutely zero mention of gun control on their websites. I’ve pointedly asked several state legislators about their gun stance and received no answer, or an ‘I support the 2A’ even when it is clearly apparent they don’t when it’s time to cast a legislative vote.

      They think; why antagonize their pro gun constituents unless forced to do so, particularly when having their support on other issues?

    • >> California is where it is legally because the average urban voter is uncomfortable with firearms .

      This is exactly it. If you want to secure gun rights, you need to change the prevailing thinking of a typical urban voter. If you don’t do that, then – seeing how urban growth is still ongoing – you’ll inevitably lose.

      What a lot of people here don’t understand is that you cannot change that thinking so long as you keep tying gun rights to the overall right wing agenda. The moment you start talking about slashing welfare, or how letting gays marry will ruin the family, or how Obama is a traitor Muslim or some such, any audience you may have had until that moment will go away immediately. If all that stuff is lumped together, it will sink together. And if you pay any attention to the voting patterns lately (hint: look at the actual number of people voting this or that way, instead of election results; the latter are skewed by district boundaries and other things, the former represent real trends among the populace), you know that it’s barely afloat and will sink any moment now.

    • “To change that dynamic, we must change the culture. We need a Beretta boutique on Rodeo Drive.”

      How about “Guns ‘n’ Buns”, a combination coffee shop, tanning salon, and gun store?

      😉

  8. On top of that, in order for the ffl to give the test and sign it stating the person passed the test and was issued an hsc, they have to have the physical card to give out. I believe they were avalable through aft but sometimes, mostly during the panic buying, some dealers had trouble getting more cards, which as far as I know have to be ordered and payed for by the ffl. One mentioned he was told when he placed an order that they wouldn’t be sent out until more dealers in the area needed them as well. Because of this some ffl’s were forced into prioritizing who they would allow to receive a card. Did you just decide to buy a used gun from a friend and came into the store to process the transfer and put your new to you gun into the ten day wait? The dealers are limited how much they can charge for this process so they will only make so much for all the same paperwork that they would have to do to sell a new gun from their inventory were they will make a little more through markup and hopefully the sale of accesories. If you knew you could only give one of them a hsc card it is a business decision on who gets it. To be fair, it was more common for dealers I visited to offer the cards they had in both cases and they would simply not have any cards avalable at all, rather than only cutting off people that needed it for a private party transfer, leading them to not be able to do any transfers unless the person coming in already possessed the hsc but I know it happened that if you didn’t buy a gun from their inventory you don’t get a hsc from them. I’m not involved in the industry besides as a hobbyist, so all this was what I gathered in discussion and online so I don’t have firsthand knowledge, but it seems to be the case.
    To the person who asked who would buy a single shot gun, it is only made that way to meet the criteria for sale, after that it can be easily “converted” to fire as a normal semi auto like it came from the factory and remain legal. It was just a legal path to sell pistols that came out after the list of guns for sale was essentially closed by adding unobtainable requirements.

    • I guess I am just dense, but I’m not getting this. Why not pop that little beauty onto your printer and turn out a thousand copies?

      • Had to look at mine to make sure, but here goes. They’re sequentially numbered, and each is logged to a specific person by the FFL issuing same.

  9. As a former resident of California, personally I have written off both California and New York. Unless something drastic happens those two locations will never be free places to life for gun owners.

  10. N Idaho is full of refugees from that sad place, not sure anything can be done to remedy a state that re elected Brown, Pelosi, Feinstein, etc …likely the cancer will continue to flourish there, it’s to us to contain it and prevent it’s spread to our free states.

    • The American redoubt is the last stronghold for Americans.. The spread of the cancer will continue, But In that portion of the Country, it is met with fierce opposition.. the recent flap over an MRAP that the Spokane county sheriffs office received to keep constitutionalists in check was met with so much resistance that the sheriff is being asked to apologize or step down..

  11. That was a great write up, Dr. Vino. Who’s writing you is “Fil(ippo) from La Jolla, SoCal. What a stunning place this is. I was born in Dallas, TX 46 years ago. Only 6 months ago I moved back to the US; the country I grew up in, went down in pieces (Italy). It’s a socialist, uber corrupted country I’m sure you (and most readers here) know well about. In Italy, in order to buy a firearm you (I) had to get a license first. License would be had by presenting two medical certificates first, one from family doc, other one by a military medic (or similar). Then you’d go to the range and be examined in theory and weapons handling. Then it would be the turn of paying a bunch of taxes and then finally, presenting all the papers to your area police district. IF that police district – after running background checks and the like – thought you were passable, you’d wait from 3 to 6 months and then, you’d get your license. License in Italy only allow to detain (in the registered household) up to 3 handguns and an unlimited number of hunting rifles. AR15 types of rifles though are also considered hunting rifles, so that was good. Not more than 200 handgun bullets (regardless of caliber) were to be owned at any given moment in the household; not more than 1500 – regardless of caliber – for the rifle(s). Every weapon purchased, within 72 hours of purchase, had to be registered at the local police department. Upon moving here, I sold my entire weapons collection in Italy, made of circa 70 firearms (I had also requested and obtained a collection permit, to own more than three handguns that could not – however – be brought to the range to be fired; that was limited to the original three). While at first being here felt great in comparison to old and rundown Italy, I am progressively starting to feel like… I felt down there. A certain sense of darkness and “prohibition”. Sorry for the long write up. I love the USA.

  12. “As goes California, so goes the nation.” Dear God if that is true then we should all give up now. Reading that and pretending it is true made my stomach turn. Its pretty obvious that this is how civilian disarmament is accomplished- make the whole process so confusing, complicated, and corrupt that virtually no one does it.

    • That saying was created by the arrogant Left 10+ years ago and most of the country today scoffs at the idea now with the basket case that Calif has become. Most states realize that they should do the opposite of what Calif does if they want to remain viable.

  13. Simple solution. Move the heck out of California. Seriously. What keeps people of the gun there?

    Jobs? There are jobs in other places.
    The weather? There’s weather in other places too.
    Family? They’ll all be dead to gang violence soon if they stay, so just move them with you.

    Come to Alabama. I got to spend Christmas on the beach and nobody gives a shit how many rounds my pistol holds unless they’re just jealous and want an extended mag also.

    • >> They’ll all be dead to gang violence soon if they stay, so just move them with you.

      Homicide rate (per 100k people):

      Philadelphia – 21.5
      Memphis – 20.2
      Atlanta – 19
      Miami – 16.7
      Oklahoma City – 14.3
      Dallas – 12.4
      Houston – 10
      Phoenix – 8.3

      San Francisco – 8.4
      Los Angeles – 7.8

      • L.A. is 7.8? I can go along with some of the other figures, particularly Miami and Philly, but LA? Pssh, ya right. That’s probable from all the crimes they chose to ignore.

        • I’m not sure that’s fair. It is possible to understand the attitude that walking in certain areas of LA is suicide, so don’t count it as a homicide. Seems easy enough.

  14. I would never say anything like that about a state that rightfully belongs to Mexico and should be returned immediately!

    • Well, let’s be honest here. If we’re returning land we took from Mexico let’s get it right. California, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona need to go together. Maybe Colorado and part of Utah too.

      • That would make too big a state! I mean, since all Mexicans seem to want to come here, why don’t we just overthrow their government for them and make Mexico a state? That would accomplish the same thing, right?

        • Back when the US treasury was still solvent, and there were concerns that Mexico would collapse under its debt burden, I suggested a good solution would be to buy Baja, upper and lower, and make them two new states.

  15. Gun owners can be a terrible lot. There’s fractures about calibers, design, OC, CC, etc. There should be universal agreement to expand gun rights throughout the nation. A gun rights advocate will fight laws in other states and throughout the nation.

    Why? Because helping Scott Walker get re-elected helps secure gun rights.

    Calguns and the Second Amendment For nation have a lawsuit against the CA Handgun “Safe” Gandgun roster.

    Because WA just had a nasty background check bill that might be coming to Nevada.

    Because an idiotic, anti-gun surgeon general sits waiting to push more anti-gun agendas.

    I could go on but the idea is the same: use your resources to fight bad gun laws. Advocate freedom and limited government.

    If you don’t, it’s going to bite you in the a$$.

  16. This is the point. The laws have nothing to do with crime or public safety. They are created to inconvenience, confuse and scare people into not buying firearms. The average person never knew about the SSE or how to get off roster handguns. Try to explain the CA assault weapons flow chart to someone and they will think you are crazy and just made it up.

  17. You posted in the body of the story, ” … each long gun purchased in California and other border states had its make, model and serial number registered with the CA DOJ.”

    I am in Texas. My Black Friday present to myself was ordered from one of the big name sellers and delivered to my local Texas FFL. Do you mean to say that I and my recent purchase, as a Texas resident, are now “registered” with the the CA DOJ?

    What authority does California have over me and my purchase? How is this even constitutional?

  18. The guy I do my gun transfers through has hinted he may go out of business after this year. He sells a lot of guns, but, with the changes in the laws in CA, it sounds like he may just give it up because it isn’t worth the headache.

  19. all of these classes and fees and licenses and certificates to exercise your right… but if you require anyone of any color to show their (optionally Free) State issued ID Card to vote, you are a racist…

        • It’s attacked as racist because as implemented in most states, its application has statistically significant effect of excluding people that correlates strongly with race. You can argue that it’s not the intent of the policy, but that is unquestionably the result.

          Now, if it’s not supposed to be the case, one would expect voter ID proponents to pay attention to that effect, and propose fixes that would remedy it (making ID free, for example; making it easier to get, not requiring complicated paperwork for those who don’t already have it etc). And a few people do just that. But the majority seem to be quite content with it the way it is, which can’t help but lead to the conclusion that the effect was very much intentional and inherent in the design.

          Ultimately it boils down to this: any form of mandatory payment associated with exercising one’s right to vote is a poll tax. Poll taxes are unconstitutional.

          (And before you ask: yes, any form of mandatory payment associated with exercising one’s right to RKBA is also a tax, and is also unconstitutional. States can mandate carry licenses, just as they can mandate IDs for voting, but they should be required to provide those licenses for free and with absolute minimum hassle.)

      • Don’t know about other states, but for AZ:

        Arizona Identification Card Fees

        The cost for an original, duplicate, or replacement Arizona identification card is $12, but can be waived if you are either:

        65 years old or older.
        Receiving Supplemental Security Income disability payments from the federal government

        I can’t remember paying the low price of 12 bucks for any type of government ID.

  20. Leaing aside the knee jerk idioticies of some here (family will all be dead due to gang violence? AZ has a higher murder rate… but I digress)

    California has nowhere as strict of gun control as it projects itself as having, and if it had immediately went for that sort of strictness, even here, they would have failed. The boiling frog analogy is apt and frankly the gun control movement’s biggest stupidity is not emulating CA’s approach better (compare our universal background check to WA… both are bad, but CA’s is less open to prima facie ridicule)

    Now look at how many states still require a permit to buy a handgun. Last I counted 14. And California’s HSC is easier than all of them overall. Sure a CCW exempts in many of them (Nebraska, Iowa, North Carolina), but a CCW is harder to get than an HSC and now an FSC.

    What people are missing is that California is being very incrementalist

    1994- BFSC The Basic Firearms Safety Certificate was required to buy handguns. The certificate required taking a very simple test or watching a safety video, and the ffl could be the one to give it. $25 fee and was good for life

    2003- HSC- The same as the above, but now renew it every five years

    2014- FSC, same as above but apply it to longguns

    While only one store has ever actually done the safe handling demo with me (most just have you sign that they did it without doing it), that is little bother. Basically they show you have to load and unload the gun and you show them you can do it too. The card is where we have to watch.

    I suspect the next steps, similar if not identical to this order, will be

    1. Make the quiz harder. Right now a monkey on crack could pass it.

    2. Can’t trust those FFL’s, make who can administer it a narrower list

    3. Require it once a year, and eventually every gun purchase

    4. Require it to be gotten from a government official. After all Nebraska and North Carolina do that, and no one accuses them of being anti-gun

    5. Analogize it to driving test, and actually require a course at a range (similar, I believe, to Conneticut)

    6. Require the police to do a background check for it (similar to New Jersey)

    7. Require it to be renewed to continue owning the gun rather than just purchasing

    You see where I am going. What it is now is a minor inconvenience. But it is the seed of a foundation for something along the lines of New York. If California was as far gone as some here assume, they would already be there. Instead they are being incrementalists, and can get away with it because even gunowners perpetuate the myth that the laws are already hopeless/strict, so when they do move that way it goes unchallenged appears to be keeping the status quo.

    You see the same incrementalism with the roster too. And now the fruits are ripening there

  21. Things won’t really, really get serious in California until the manufacturers of long guns, shotguns, handguns and ammunition start holding the state and its political subdivisions and agencies to the same standards that its subjects are held to. Ronnie Barrett had the right idea.

    • Yep, this is how you could effect real change.
      Also no body armor sales.
      It would be a long, leaky boycott but with enough negative repercussions put on the leakers we might
      achieve some real pain on the legislature.

  22. So, as far as it goes, without the extra restrictive FSC Card, as of midnight+01 seconds January 1, 2015, gun sales in California are effectively frozen. You cannot take delivery of a pistol or long gun in California without the new iteration of the FSC and there are no provisions in place for getting one. If you have the former card and it is valid, it might be “grandfathered”, but no one is certain about that.

    Am I understanding this correctly? I sure hope I missed something. I was not planning on buying any new guns until I can get my old FSC updated, and just bought a pistol in October 2014, so I was not too concerned about this. However, in reviewing the situation today and reading your article, Dr. Vino, I realized the situation I described in the first paragraph. Now, I am concerned, to put it mildly.

    It is my opinion that the Democratic controlled DOJ and State Legislature probably engineered this situation quite deliberately, if I have understood it correctly. Again, I surely hope I have totally misunderstood the apparent situation.

    Turner’s OUTDOORSMAN has been a chief resource for FSC issue and I will go to my local Store as soon as possible to see what they are able to do.

    • So, it turns-out where I wrote “FSC” (FIrearms Safety Certificate) I should have written “HSC” (Handgun Safety Certificate).
      If you have an HSC (the older certificate) you can purchase HANDGUNS after January 1, 2015 until your HSC expires, then you must get an FSC (the newer certificate).
      If you have a Hunter’s Certificate, you may still purchase Long Guns, but will need to get an FSC eventually.
      If you do not have an HSC or a Hunter’s Certificate the only option is to get an FSC, otherwise you cannot DROS either a handgun or long gun after January 1, 2015.

      Bottom line is that Gun Sales in California are NOT frozen as I supposed. However, there are some limitations until you get an FSC.

  23. Sorry to hear all of this. Keep up the good fight. WE’ve had a few miracles in my state of Illinois. Anything can happen.

  24. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. I will never live in San Francisco proper. I still have to deal with the State laws they are a pain in the ass.

  25. Ha you think its bad now.. wait till brown leaves.

    Imagine a left wing fossilized kook like Jerry Brown being the last stop gap between the highest population of gun owners in the US and a rabid full time democrat legislature…

    The good news is they cant do a whole lot but nibble around the edges these days. The courts are catching up with them.

    I still maintain we are better off than NJ and some other east coast states.

  26. The gun industry could put a end to all these onerous restrictions in California by doing one simple thing. Cutting off all sales and service for government agencies especially the state DOJ. Put defending the rights of gun owners above profit selling to a tyrannical state government. Its a perfectly legal action and Kamala Harris would have no legal recourse.

  27. You know how they say to vote with your dollar? California is already drowning in debt, isn’t it?
    I know this is easier said than done but if you’re serious about your rights, LEAVE. Your 2nd Amendment rights aren’t the only ones being infringed there. Do you have to become a victim of violent crime before you take your safety seriously?
    I did it. I left the “great” state of Texas because their gun laws are a joke. Even now that I live in Arizona, the best state for gun owners (according to Guns & Ammo magazine for 2013 and 2014), I am active in getting their gun laws back in line with the Constitution.

  28. How do you kill/boil a frog. Slowly at first and really fast in the end (one degree at a time). How do you lose freedom? Slowly at first and really fast in the end. The purpose of registration has always been confiscation. I Just wish all gun manufacturers would stop selling to LEO’s in California to help put pressure on the State.

  29. IMO, Gun rights are doomed as long as people don’t give a shit about speaking up for the other rights they are rapidly losing; the rights many here say the 2nd Amendment was allegedly created to protect.

  30. And on the same day all illegal aliens are gapplying for their right to a CA drivers license. More undocumented democrats will reinforce illegal gun laws.

  31. We don’t shrug California off but really what can be done? The rest of the country can’t vote them out and 2A groups can’t compete with pols offering free shit and benefits. The gun laws are an afterthought. You need to replace half the voters and that won’t happen ever. In fact Ca is exporting their views to Co and beyond. A Constitution is supposed to clamp down on this nonesense but that requires balls on the Court, which are in short supply.
    Really outside of a coup Ca is doomed

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