A closer look at California's "carry killer" legislation

Gov. Gavin Newsom is launching his latest assault on the Second Amendment with help from Democratic lawmakers, and on today’s Bearing Arms’ Cam & Co we’re taking a close look at SB 2, the churlish response from anti-gun Democrats to the Supreme Court’s decision in Bruen.

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Just as we’ve seen in states like New York and New Jersey, the California would make it a crime to carry a concealed firearm almost everywhere in the state, while also erecting new barriers for those wanting to exercise their right to bear arms.

You can read the bill for yourself if you’d like, but just a word of warning: it is absolutely drenched in legalese that can be fairly mind-numbing to wade through.

The legislation not only allows for localities to start applying more administrative fees to processing carry applications, it also allows them to increase the number of training hours as high as they want. Currently a California concealed carry permit requires 16 hours of training, but that would be the bare minimum under SB 2. If San Francisco County or another anti-gun jurisdiction wants to mandate 80 hours of training (or more), they’d be allowed to do so under the current language.

For those California residents who could manage to navigate the many roadblocks that stand between them and a concealed handgun permit, the “carry killer” legislation ensures that they can’t actually bear arms in most places without committing a criminal offense. The legislation creates a number of new “sensitive places” where concealed carry isn’t allowed… including in your own vehicle. Other “gun-free zones” include:

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  • all state and locally owned buildings
  • all areas under control of an airport authority
  • governor’s mansion and state legislative offices and residences
  • public transportation
  • private transportation
  • bars and restaurants
  • daycares and childcare facilities
  • playgrounds and parks
  • all permitted public events
  • state parks and land under the control of California Department of Fish and Wildlife
  • colleges and universities
  • gaming establishments
  • stadiums
  • libraries
  • amusement parks
  • museums
  • churches and houses of worship
  • banks (including parking lots)
  • all commercial property (unless specifically allowed by the property owner)

Again, just like in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and other former “may issue” states, now that California can’t arbitrarily decide who gets to exercise their right to bear arms lawmakers are trying to forbid law-abiding gun owners from carrying in almost any public setting. And as we’ve already seen in those states, many of these prohibitions aren’t likely to stand up to judicial scrutiny once gun owners have the opportunity to challenge them in federal court.

Newsom and his fellow civil rights-suppressors know full well that the prohibitions they want to put in place would continue to make it impossible for law-abiding citizens to exercise their right to bear arms, and I suspect they have a good idea of how this is ultimately going to play out in the courts as well. I just don’t think they give a damn about violating anyone’s fundamental right to armed self-defense. In fact, I suspect its worse than that;  it’s not that they’re apathetic about how these laws will impact responsible gun owners, but are downright eager to punish anyone who dares to exercise their right to bear arms.

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Newsom may view himself as a progressive lion defending “common sense” gun laws, but history will place him in the same realm as other civil rights scofflaws like governors George Wallace and Orval Faubus, as well as Sen, Harry Byrd, Virginia’s architect of “Massive Resistance” to integration; all of whom, like Newsom himself, maliciously fought a losing battle to deprive Americans of their equal rights under the law.

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