Townhall Media/Beth Baumann

The idea of running a background check for ammo is ridiculous, especially since there’s no way to prevent it from crossing state lines. It’s highly unlikely that anyone outside of the state will refuse to sell to Californians, after all.

In other words, it’s useless.

However, as of July 1, it’s the law. Also, however, leave it to California to pass something and then completely screw up the rollout.

California’s new ammunition background check law began Monday not with a bang but with a whimper from dealers who reported delays and glitches with the state’s online system.

But they said few customers were affected because most had stockpiled bullets or shotgun shells in the weeks before the new law took effect.

Voters in 2016 approved requiring criminal background checks for every ammunition purchase. But the state’s latest attempt to deter gun violence only took effect Monday.

Vendors the length of California were frustrated by online snags including their inability to readily log in to the new system that is supposed to let them background-check customers with the state, though some put it down to a predicable learning curve.

Chuck Michel, an attorney for the National Rifle Association and the affiliated California Rifle & Pistol Association, said he will soon cite the glitches in seeking an injunction to block the law. The California affiliate sued last year, maintaining that the new law violates the Second Amendment right to bear arms, impedes interstate commerce and is pre-empted by federal law.

“I’ve had one customer, and I had to turn them away because I couldn’t get into the system,” Don Reed, owner of DGS Ammo & Airguns in Sacramento, said at midmorning. “He seemed a little bit perturbed. … There’s a lot of people feel like they’re being held hostage suddenly — punishing the people who’ve been doing it the right way.”

To err is human, but to really foul things up, you need government involvement.

Honestly, this shouldn’t be surprising to anyone, though I certainly understand the frustration. When you’re not the problem yet you’re the one impacted by a new law, one that you know damn good and well the bad guys are going to get around easily enough; it’s hard not to get frustrated.

This is how states like California deal with issues. They create laws that are ostensibly meant to keep their out-of-control criminal population in check, but the only one who ever feels the effects are law-abiding citizens who weren’t the problem in the first place.

They knew this was coming since 2016, and they still couldn’t get it right, yet they think they can pass a law and prevent violent crime? Seriously?

I hope that this gets beyond the “9th Circus” and to the Supreme Court. It’s also my hope that they hear the case and squash this nonsense once and for all.

Maybe, just maybe, if states couldn’t treat gun owners like crap for a change, they’d be forced to look for real damn solutions to issues like violent crime.