Current California Firearms Legislation Update — Ammo Sales, Firearms instruction.
There are two really nasty pieces of legislation currently hovering in Sacramento for the 2008 lawmaking season — AB 2062 (ammunition sales regulation) and AB 2498 (firearms training eligibility). Here is an update on those.
AB2498 would require that people seeking firearms training from some groups be required to show that they are legally allowed to possess a firearm before obtaining this training. Recently, this bill has been amended to specifically NOT affect NRA classes, youth programs and hunter safety programs. This means that the NRA has removed their objections to this bill! This bill remains a bad bill and in addition to other concerns, this bill also creates a de facto monopoly for the NRA in firearms instruction. PLEASE contact your representatives TODAY to voice your concerns over this bill. Here is a link to our previous story on how to fight AB 2498.
AB2062 would regulate ammunition sales. You would need a license to purchase, and if you sold or gave away more than 50 rds/month you would need a license to sell. Further, all sales would be recorded and there would be a tax on every box of ammunition sold. As of yesterday, this bill has become placed in the suspense file by the Assembly Appropriations committee.– while it could become active again at any time, this bill currently is in limbo. Readers are encouraged to contact their representatives and members of the appropriations committee to voice their concern over this bill.
So, why is AB2062 bad? The biggest reason is that it will cost a tremendous amount of money and not affect criminals. This is a bill to make life harder for law-abiding gun enthusiasts while having minimal impact on criminals. A criminal is unlikely to go through a box of ammo in a year. Compare this to a competitive shooter or hobby level target shooter. If I am a criminal, it is easy enough to have somebody buy a box of ammo for me — works for kids at liquor stores, it will certainly work here.What is the real effect? Hard for you to buy ammo. Records of what/when you purchase and the cost associated with storing that information. Ranges will have hard times staying in business. Training will be harder because students will have to apply for an ammo license before taking a class.
Many anti-gun laws can at least be interpreted as well intentioned… In this case, it is clearly a broad gun ban targeting responsible gun owners for having an “inappropriate” hobby.