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Assemblywoman Saldana, has put forth a somewhat ill-conceived piece of anti-firearm legislation that has the very real consequence of increasing the firearm accident rate.

Specifically, AB 2498 will make it more difficult to teach or learn about proper firearm usage by requiring that firearms schools validate a student’s eligibility to own a firearm BEFORE providing instruction.

Currently this bill is with the Assembly Public Safety Committee. I urge you to please contact the members of the committee and ask them to prevent this bill from moving forward.

Contact information for the members is available here. Please both call and write! Mailed letters carry significant impact. If all you have time for is an email, the NRA will distribute your email to all of the committee member for you as described here.

Here is a sample letter:

Dear Assemblyman ______,

I am petitioning you to, please, reject AB 2498 (“Firearms training: eligibility to possess firearms”), which is currently in the Assembly Public Safety Committee.

While I would support legislation that both reduced crime and increased safety, AB 2498 will do neither. Rather this bill will place an inordinate burden on those that do provide safety training and those that are seeking safety training. Therefore, the most likely effect will be severely reduced access to responsible training.

AB 2498 would require that certain training groups validate a student’s eligibility to own a firearm before providing firearm training. This bill presupposes that there is a significant number of convicted criminals (or entities that have otherwise lost their right to firearm ownership) that are actively seeking and paying for firearms training.

What this bill neglects is that the vast majority of people seeking firearms training are law abiding citizens seeking to become safer, more responsible gun owners. Many students are the spouses or children of gun owners that, while they do not intend to own a gun themselves, desire to learn about guns and gun safety. Many other students are people seeking classes to become proficient and safe BEFORE they purchase a gun.

These individuals should NOT be discouraged nor should access to training be made more difficult. We, as a society benefit from these people gaining this training.

In short, this law will have very little impact on criminals and a major impact on on law abiding citizens. Further, this bill is in clear conflict with other California legislation that clearly seeks to enhance firearm safety (e.g., the handgun safety certificate which includes a written test and a study booklet).

I reiterate my plea to please stop AB-2498

Thank you