Surprise, surprise - Sacramento politicians want millions more to stifle your Second Amendment rights.

In our review of this year’s Budget Change Requests we found that DOJ is requesting millions of dollars more than they anticipated to implement the “Ghost Gun” ban (SB 857) and the bullet button ban (SB 880, AB 1135).

They’re also requesting a six-month extension of the bullet button weapon registration deadline and $5 million to fight the Trump administration.

As we documented in our video below, these bills were passed without going through the normal fiscal analysis and committee hearing process.

Normally, if a bill is projected to cost more than a certain amount (last year it was $150,000), it is placed in “suspense.” The Senate fiscal analysis of each of these bills projected they would cost far more than that amount, and highlighted the fact that the source of funding for each bill was the DROS (Dealer’s Record of Sale) fund, which was already overburdened and likely unable to support the program.

But the fiscal analysis was ignored, and the bills passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee without being placed in the suspense file.

In the Assembly, the bills didn’t even go to the Appropriations Committee for hearings and discussion, where presumably someone might have brought up the point that it’s irresponsible to task an already overburdened DROS fund with funding this scheme. The bills went straight to the floor, because the anti-gunners really didn’t care how much they cost. They knew what their overall plan was, and figured someone else down the road would figure out how to implement it and what it would cost.

They also knew that using these Budget Change Requests - which, if passed in each chamber’s budget committee are not brought up as an individual item in the main budget - they could come back later and say, “Whoops. We need more money to do this.”

Now, almost a year after the framework of these schemes was passed, the Budget Change Request sets up a shell game where the Firearm Safety Certificate Fund will loan millions of dollars to DROS for implementation, to be paid back by 2021 (with all of the money they’ll extort from gun owners through fees).

We’d say the incompetence is stunning, but sadly it’s par for the course.

It gets better (or worse). The DOJ’s request for a six-month extension to register bullet button weapons isn’t to give people more time to register - it’s because they haven’t figured out all the details of how to implement it (yet somehow they know it will cost millions more than projected). They recently submitted a second set of proposed regulations - which were almost identical to the set they submitted in December - WITH NO PUBLIC INPUT. What have they been doing since then?

And the cherry on top of this crap sundae is DOJ’s request for $5 million to fight the Trump administration. (Wasn’t that going to be Eric Holder’s job?) They didn’t provide specifics on what this money would be used for, but we’re fairly certain fighting against your Second Amendment rights is high on the list.

Legislative procedures are there for a reason. When lawmakers draft a bill, they should have all of the particulars - and how to pay for them - figured out before it’s passed and signed into law. And if they don’t, they certainly shouldn’t be rewarded for their laziness.

Contact your legislator today and urge them to vote NO on the budget bill.