Guns.com: What 2017 Holds for California Gun Owners is Still in the Air
One thing that’s for sure is that we’ll keep fighting!
Via Guns.com:
California lawmakers and voters in 2016 passed multiple layers of new gun laws set to take effect over the coming years, but just exactly how they translate to practice is a bit murky.
Over a dozen gun control bills were pushed through the state legislature in an express train conducted by Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León this summer. While Gov. Jerry Brown rejected a few, in the end he signed seven into law including a controversial “ghost gun” bill he had repeatedly vetoed.
Then came Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s “Safety for All” voter referendum which, filed prior to the legislative push, largely duplicated several of the new pending laws while adding a mandate to require background checks prior to all ammunition sales. Listed on the ballot as Proposition 63, voters approved the initiative 63-37 in the general election earlier this month.
However, between the overlap of the legislation and the ballot initiative, and concerns over some of the laws’ constitutionality when compared to the Second Amendment translating to threats of lawsuits on the horizon, many on the ground are left confused as to what happens next…
…“We expect mass non-compliance with these laws and encourage good, peaceful Californians to carefully consider the risks of voluntarily identifying their firearms, magazines, and ammunition to law enforcement officials, especially the California Department of Justice,” Brandon Combs, president of Firearms Policy Coalition, told Guns.com previously.
As for how the new sheaf of laws will affect guns on the market in the state, the California-unique bullet button has been banned, but other variants that mean to comply with the new law are already on the market. While some gun makers have announced their last batches of some of their “California-compliant” rifles, with a market of some 13 million estimated gun owners in the Golden State, there likely will continue to be AKs and AR of various designs on store shelves that meet DOJs new guidelines.
“To make a long story short, Yes! California will innovate, just like we have every other time they banned ARs,” the FPC’s Craig J. DeLuz told Guns.com this week. “In 1990 we came up with ‘Off List Lowers.’ In 2000 we invented the ‘Bullet Button.’ 2017 will be no different. Once the regs are out, we’ll know which of the already proposed or soon to be created innovations will allow California gun owners to own these firearms while remaining in compliance.”
What is is known and expected by the state, in a fiscal analysis of Prop. 63, is that tax payers will be on the hook moving forward for potentially tens of millions of dollars annually, related to new court processes, law enforcement and regulatory costs associated with the measure.
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