Despite the myriad draconian gun laws already on the books in California, the state still played host to a horrific mass shooting at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, California. The state already bans almost everything, including most semi-automatic handguns available to those of us outside of the state. Instead, residents are required to choose from an ever-dwindling list of semi-autos that are approved for sale.

Yet, despite all of that, Thousand Oaks still happened. What does that leave for California lawmakers?

Oh, don’t worry. They figured something out.

A new plan to impose a tax on the sale of semi-automatic firearms has been proposed in California.

The initiative follows a mass shooting in Thousand Oaks that left 12 dead at the Borderline Bar and Grill.

The new proposal comes as Governor-Elect Gavin Newsom prepares to “raise the bar” on the state’s gun control laws, which are among the strictest in the nation.

According to Gun Violence Archive, in 2018 there were 325 mass shootings nationwide. Gun violence claimed more than 13,000 lives.

Assembly Bill 18 would impose a tax on the sales of handguns and semiautomatic rifles and would require the money collected from that tax to be used to fund grants that assist victims of gun violence.

Author, Marc Levine (D-North Bay), has not decided how high the tax will be.

“Gun violence is the only epidemic with its own lobbyists, which makes passing common-sense gun laws an uphill struggle,” Levine said, “but making California a safer place by protecting innocent lives is more than worth the fight.”

First, that’s a lie. Gun violence doesn’t have its own lobbyists, but Levine is trying to align law-abiding gun owners who don’t want their rights trampled with the criminals who are already barred from owning guns in the vast majority of cases.

Second, taxing semi-automatics makes it more difficult for law-abiding, low-income citizens to afford firearms to defend themselves. These are the same folks who often are forced to live in high-crime neighborhoods. Mr. Levine probably doesn’t understand that, considering his home of Marin County has the fifth highest average income per capita. In his world, people can afford home security and even taxes on firearms if they want them.

But not everyone lives in that kind of lifestyle. They can’t outsource our safety as Marin County can.

In other words, Mr. Levine is proposing a bill that will add yet another difficulty for low-income, law-abiding citizens to obtain firearms despite representing absolutely no threat at all.

Meanwhile, despite (or because of) all of the gun laws created by people like Levine, California still has a lot of violent crime. It’s almost like gun laws don’t work.

Go figure.

Further, the idea that a tax would deter a mass shooter is idiotic at best. Then again, Levine is clearly anti-gun, so I’m sure he’s not all that bright, to begin with. Especially since he seems to believe groups like the National Rifle Association and violent criminals somehow have a common cause.

Note, however, that despite the murder of Cpl Ronil Singh, there’s no talk from Levine about cracking down on illegal immigration in the state. That tells me plenty about how he feels about safety.