California lawmakers are proposing an anti-Second Amendment law that will rival the one recently passed in New York. Democrats in control of the state Legislature unveiled ten proposals they boasted will make California the most restrictive state in the nation for possessing legally purchased firearms.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, and police officials from around the state rolled out the anti-Second Amendment effort on Thursday during a news conference in Sacramento, the state capital.
"California has always been a leader on the issue of gun safety," Villaraigosa said. "New York has stepped up and stepped forward. California needs to answer the call."
The new law would outlaw all semiautomatic weapons in the state and force gun owners to load bullets one at a time. CBS News reports that authorities also want to make prohibitions apply to current gun owners, thus resulting in confiscation.
California senator Dianne Feinstein has made apparent on numerous occasions the ultimate plan is to confiscate all firearms. In 1995, she told CBS’ 60 Minutes that she has worked to have “Mr. and Mrs. America” turn in their guns to the government.
“Confiscation could be an option. Mandatory sale to the state could be an option. Permitting could be an option — keep your gun but permit it,” New York governor Andrew Cuomo stated prior to the passage of a historically restrictive gun law in the state.
In addition, California will impose new rules on ammunition sales. Ammo buyers will be required to pay a fee and undergo a background check by the state Department of Justice every time bullets are sold, thus recording all ammunition sales and purchaser information with the state.
In addition to a mandatory state-wide gun registration, the law would make the sale and current possession of magazines holding more than ten bullets illegal.
So-called "bullet buttons" and certain shotguns will also become illegal if the legislation is enacted.
Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said he is confident Democrats will leverage majorities in the Assembly and Senate and send the draconian measures to the state’s Democratic governor, Jerry Brown.
"It strikes me as if these folks are playing some sort of game of one-upsmanship with New York at the expense of law-abiding citizens, and that’s just unconscionable," Sam Paredes, executive director of Gun Owners of California, told CBS News.
Republicans stated the obvious. "The laws they are (proposing) would have made no difference in the Connecticut shooting whatsoever," Sen. Dan Logue said.
