Sac Bee: Why California’s New Gun Laws Deserve Contempt
“But many otherwise law-abiding gun owners simply will not comply with the new rules on ammunition purchases and the ban on high-capacity magazines.”
Via Sac Bee:
The arrival in 2017 of a raft of new gun control laws in California won’t amount to much, except more hassles for gun dealers and the law-abiding few.
Yes, “few.” When buying a handgun, rifle or shotgun, the vast majority of people naturally will follow the law. The cost of noncompliance is too high, and the inconvenience is too great. Unless your next-door neighbor happens to traffic in illegal weapons, odds are you will go to the gun store, fill out the paperwork, endure the waiting period and get on with your life.
But many otherwise law-abiding gun owners simply will not comply with the new rules on ammunition purchases and the ban on high-capacity magazines.
And why should they? The state lacks effective means of enforcing the new laws, which now ban the possession of magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition.
After July 1, you will have just three legal options for disposing of these magazines: remove them from the state, sell them to a licensed dealer or turn them in to the police.
Or you will keep your mouth shut and keep your magazines stashed.
I do not advocate flouting the law. But nor do I advocate being naive. After July 1, tens of millions of illegal ammunition magazines will remain in private hands. And there is not much the state can do about it.
That’s the problem with sweeping and arbitrary bans. People have a much stronger incentive to resist than to comply. That’s what happened in Connecticut and New York after the Sandy Hook school massacre in 2012. Both states passed sweeping gun control laws requiring, among other things, registration of so-called assault weapons. Millions of guns remain unregistered.
Read more here.
