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Tomorrow being Sunday, a lot of the Armed Intelligentsia faithful should probably consider getting out of bed and dragging themselves to church. They have some serious splainin’ to do to the man upstairs. At least those who own scary assault weapons do. Especially if they live in California. That’s the considered judgment of a state appeals court, anyway. . .

See, in the Golden State the mere possession of a banned assault rifle – which can differ from a perfectly legal one due to something as insignificant as a removable magazine – is evidence of moral turpitude. That’s what sfgate.com reports the court recently ruled in the case of Solomon Gabriel who was charged with growing happy tabacky. A crime for which he’d been convicted before, along with an assault weapon charge.

Morality enters the picture because when a defendant takes the stand, state law allows prosecutors to offer evidence that the defendant was previously convicted of crimes involving “moral turpitude,” which is legalese for conduct that’s inherently depraved. The court said both of Gabriel’s past crimes fit that description.

California has outlawed assault weapons because they’re used for crimes, not hunting or recreation, the court said, and Gabriel should have known that the gun he was convicted of possessing was “partiuclarly (sic) dangerous to human life.” As for cultivating marijuana, the court noted that it’s a felony punishable by a state prison term, in contrast to possessing pot, which carries a maximum $100 fine for small amounts and up to six months in jail for a larger supply.

Yep, those assault weapons are particularly dangerous to human life. As everyone knows, a 7.62 round from an illegal AK will kill someone much faster (and deader!) than one from a gun with a fixed magazine. Or a .308 from a bolt gun.

Gabriel’s attorney says he’ll ask California’s Supreme Court to review the decision. Good luck with that. In the mean time, this might be a good time for you to look in the mirror (and your gun safe) for evidence of your own depravity and clean up your act.

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28 COMMENTS

  1. The gun on top is a great looking hunting, target practice, self-defense, collector, and coffee-table conversation piece. What is it?

  2. Goodness, they did not cover this in seminary. My education was lacking.

    As a Lutheran pastor and the proud owner of a boatload of firearms, I’m going to keep preaching the Gospel, and thanking God for the freedom I enjoy in this great nation, particularly under *both* the First and Second Amendments to the constitution.

  3. Well, as we all know, the powerups in the pistol grip and detachable mags give +10 to damage, so the law really does make sense. Of course, the shoulder thing that goes up gives you a 1 in 10 chance of a critical hit, so it’s especially bad.

  4. Repent ye sinners! All is not lost! You too can be saved!

    Yes, a friend who lives in an unspecified rural part of the PRCa was once a sinner, owning an EEEVIL M1A .308 ASSAULT WEAPON! And it was an eeevil assault weapon because it had a FLASH HIDER!!!! on the end of the barrel! So he sent off for a BATF-certified COMPENSATOR, removed the evil flash hider, and replaced it with the highly moral GOVERNMENT CERTIFED compensator, and with no further changes, his eeevil assault weapon – presto change-o, abracadabra – became a non-regulated semi-automatic, highly moral rifle. No registration required. He was SAVED from owning an “outlawed assault weapon …used for crimes, not hunting or recreation” and no longer possesses a firearm that is “partiuclarly (sic) dangerous to human life.” I am SURE that he has melted the flash hider down and turned it into a plowshare! We are SAVED!!!

    Wow! Salvation can be yours, O thou pilgrims who own M1As in the PRCa, by spending a mere $100 for a compensator!

    [Apologies for yelling. I am so thrilled to have escaped from the PRCa that my voice tends to get a bit louder when I discuss Californidiocies.]

      • I’ve long had a vision of a modern Moses, leading his people out of bondage and up I-5 to the Promised Land of Oregon, Washington and Idaho. (And Montana too, if they have the gas money.)

        IdahoPete, Aharon and I couldn’t wait for a new Moses; we all made the journey on our own.

        • And since the PRCa has added a long-gun registry to their pistol registry, anyone who has the misfortune to move into the PRCa now has to register ALL of their guns within (I think) 21 days of arriving. When you go into a DMV office to get your CA driver’s license, they have gun registration forms hanging in racks, right there in the DMV! How convenient! And back in 2003, when I escaped, the cost to register was $14 a gun. Bet it’s at least $25/gun now.

          When I drove across the PRCa border on my way out, I was singing “free at last, free at last, thank God A’mighty, I’m free at last!”

    • He must be plowing some really small furrows.

      I spent 3 1/2 years in CA, and that was time enough to last 3 1/2 lifetimes. I wasn’t even into guns then.

  5. Being called wrong by those that are wrong makes us right. Let ’em call me what they will, the more evil they think I am, the more correct I know I am.

  6. Thumb hole stock would classify my Ruger 10/22 as an assualt weapon along with any other features listed below.
    Could not find shoulder thingy that goes up

    CA Penal Code.
    12276.1 (a) Notwithstanding Section 12276, “assault weapon” shall also mean any of the following:
    1.A semiautomatic, centerfire rifle that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and any one of the following:
    A.A pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the weapon.
    B.A thumbhole stock.
    C.A folding or telescoping stock.
    D.A grenade launcher or flare launcher.
    E.A flash suppressor.
    F.A forward pistol grip.
    2.A semiautomatic, centerfire rifle that has a fixed magazine with the capacity to accept more than 10 rounds.
    3.A semiautomatic, centerfire rifle that has an overall length of less than 30 inches.
    4.A semiautomatic pistol that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and any one of the following:
    A.A threaded barrel, capable of accepting a flash suppressor, forward handgrip, or silencer.
    B.(B) A second handgrip.
    C.A shroud that is attached to, or partially or completely encircles, the barrel that allows the bearer to fire the weapon without burning his or her hand, except a slide that encloses the barrel.
    D.The capacity to accept a detachable magazine at some location outside of the pistol grip.
    5.A semiautomatic pistol with a fixed magazine that has the capacity to accept more than 10 rounds.
    6.A semiautomatic shotgun that has both of the following:
    A.A folding or telescoping stock.
    B.A pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the weapon, thumbhole stock, or vertical handgrip.
    7.A semiautomatic shotgun that has the ability to accept a detachable magazine.
    8.Any shotgun with a revolving cylinder.
    A.”Assault weapon” does not include any antique firearm.
    B.The following definitions shall apply under this section:
    1.”Magazine” shall mean any ammunition feeding device.
    2.”Capacity to accept more than 10 rounds” shall mean capable of accommodating more than 10 rounds, but shall not be construed to include a feeding device that has been permanently altered so that it cannot accommodate more than 10 rounds.
    3.”Antique firearm” means any firearm manufactured prior to January 1, 1899.
    C.This section shall become operative January 1, 2000.

    • Your ruger 10/22 is rimfire so it does not count as an assault weapon ( no high cap mags though) you can make it look tacticool or even down right “scary” if you want and still maintain your moral superiority!

      • exactly. If I lived in California I’d have to see about getting a dedicated 22lr upper and adding every evil feature on the list. That’d stir up the locals!

      • My bad
        Didn’t read all the words (centerfire)before posting
        Hang enough stuff on a 10/22 and I will have some “esplainin” to do if I run into the wrong LEO.
        Hang wrong stuff on Mini 14 I will be breaking the law here in CA

        • You got that right…..mini 14s are Just barely moral…don’t even think of putting that immoral pistol grip on it or you probably couldn’t look at your self in the mirror.

  7. Californians who want to play with “assault” rifles should join the police. Ordinary Californians don’t need “assault” rifles, as their having “assault” rifles doesn’t serve the state.

  8. I think we need a category of rifle between “sporting” and “assault.” An “irritating rifle.” “Anti-social rifle?” Something.

  9. Let’s take this the other way around. Since we know that California suffers from moral inversion–there everything good is evil and evil is good–we can deduce that owning an assault weapon would actually be an indicia of righteousness in the decent world. No wonder so many sane and decent people are getting out of there.

  10. As a gun owner in CA, there is a great ally on our side working to both overturn the bullshit regulations and defend lawful gun owners from overzealous and ignorant DAs: CalGuns and CalGuns Foundation. CalGuns is a great forum with easy-to-use charts for determining the legality of your rifle and CGF is a great legal force to be reckoned with.

    http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/index.php

  11. Just to clarify for others, both rifles in the picture above would legally be considered ‘assault’ rifles. Both are centerfire rifles with detachable magazines plus any number or features. The upper rifle for instance has a thumbhole stock but its legally still considered a pistol grip as one’s thumb can ‘grip’ the rifle. Lower WASR looks like the one in my safe except mine has a kydex grip over the pistol grip so that i can use high capacity magazines.

    Like most rifles, they are all easily made legal via adding a magazine lock and/or kydex grip wrap. Link for examples.
    http://www.solartactical.com/SOLAR-TACTICAL-KYDEX-GRIP-WRAP-FEATURELESS-BUILDS_c19.htm

    Ah yes, California. Great weather, high standard of living, SCUBA one weekend, hunting the next, skiing the next, and a change in scenery just an hour or two away. The roads don’t freeze, no shoveling of snow, and there’s almost no humidity. Grow up here and retire elsewhere where the cost of living is cheaper.

    I’ll admit, the politics are nutty. But the gun laws are written so poorly they are easy to exploit. Many make great cases for federal law suits in the years to come. Yup, the laws are written poorly enough that one can comply with them fairly easy and still owning most of whatever one wants. Want most rifles? Easy. Buy a FN2000 with the single shot exemption. Want any handgun, on or off CA’s roster? Easy with single shot exemption.

    Sure, CCW is hard to obtain. Sure there is no Castle Doctrine. Sure its a little tougher to buy an AOW. Sure suppressors and full auto are out of reach. Sure, one may need to obtain a NFA trust for some items. But on par, for all the grief people give occupied CA, it still shares 95% of the same gun laws as most other places.

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