By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
Writing in an opinion column at Fox News, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders took a nasty swipe at California—explaining why so many Golden State residents are migrating to the Natural State—and managed to include the coastal state’s low points and her own state’s high points except one which may be a major draw: better gun laws.
Huckabee Sanders noted, “Ask people why they’re leaving blue states like California, and they’ll give you a lot of answers: more freedom, a lower cost of living, a more family-friendly quality of life.”
California has what many consider to be oppressive, and even regressive, gun control laws. This is probably why the state currently faces several federal court challenges, filed by such groups as the Second Amendment Foundation, California Rifle & Pistol Association, Firearms Policy Coalition, National Rifle Association and others.
According to the popular website Handgunlaw.us, “Arkansas Honors All Other States Permit/Licenses. Arkansas Honors Non-Resident Permits/Licenses From the States They Honor.”
There is a large and very active gun right group in the state, Gun Owners of Arkansas with a reported membership of 25,800 members, which suggests a very active Second Amendment community in the state.
Meanwhile, in California, they have high taxes, rising crime, a high cost of living, higher housing costs, and a very restrictive, anti-gun-rights philosophy in the governor’s office, state legislature and among municipal city and county governments.
When U.S. District Judge Roger T. Benitez struck down the California laws banning so-called “high-capacity magazines” and “assault weapons,” the wails from Sacramento were loud and the state quickly appealed to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, considered by many to be the most liberal of all the circuit courts in the U.S. Stat officials left no doubt that California will be dragged kicking and screaming into Second Amendment compliance while in Arkansas, Huckabee Sanders said about ten percent of the estimated 32,000 people who have moved to Arkansas this year are from the coast.
It seems illustrative of migrations out of similarly liberal, and restrictive states.
Of the transplanted Californians, Huckabee Sanders observed, “But a lot of them are just tired. Tired of the lockdowns, tired of the crime, tired of the preening politicians who won’t do anything to address the real issues they’re facing.”
A few lines later, the Republican governor added, “We’re cracking down on crime, getting woke nonsense out of our schools, and keeping kids safe online.”
The proverbial ball is now in California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s court, and if he is seriously planning a run for the presidency—whether Joe Biden bows out or otherwise—he will have to confront all of the issues Huckabee Sanders has raised, and perhaps even the one she didn’t, if he expects to have a shot at his party’s nomination next year.
