A California state senator has cooked up a new scheme intended to make life difficult for the state’s future gun owners – including those who move in.
In February, Democratic State Sen. Jesse Arreguin introduced SB 948, which would require anyone seeking to purchase a firearm in California to complete a four-hour firearms safety course with a certified instructor to obtain a “firearms safety certificate.” The bill, however, goes even further, giving new California residents six months to obtain the same certificate or face serious criminal charges.
“New California residents are not currently required to register their firearms with the state when moving into California,” Arreguin claimed during a March 17 hearing on the bill. “I also want to emphasize existing exemptions will remain in place. Active or retired police officers, federal officers, law enforcement agents, who are already exempt under current law will continue to be exempt.”
The bill’s original text was more stringent as it would have given gun owners who moved to California all of sixty days to secure that certificate prior to the bill being amended. In a YouTube video released by the California Rifle and Pistol Association, the question arose as to whether there was enough capacity at shooting ranges to accomplish the mandate.
“We already are kind of like strapped for range time. Now, if you try to incorporate essentially every gun purchaser in the state, you know, I might not have bought my firearm, you know, seven years ago,” CRPA TV host Kevin Small said in the March 3 video. “So, if I want to go buy one right now, I need to renew my firearm safety card, so you are essentially packing so many more people into required range time.”
California already has some of the most stringent gun-control laws in the United States, according to prominent anti-Second Amendment organizations like Everytown and Giffords Law Center.
“Senate Bill 948 is yet another failed approach that punishes law-abiding Californians. It forces lengthy mandatory training courses, live-fire exercises, and state-controlled instruction just to receive a government permission slip to exercise your Constitutional rights,” NRA-ILA Executive Director John Commerford told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Criminals who misuse guns don’t obey government mandates — they ignore them. Yet this bill heaps more costs, red tape, and restrictions on responsible gun owners who already follow the law.”
“California needs to stop harassing peaceful, law-abiding citizens and start prosecuting actual criminals,” Commerford continued. “Targeting the rights of responsible gun owners doesn’t make anyone safer — it only disarms the innocent.”
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