By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
Anti-gun Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed new gun control laws including one that adds an 11 percent excise tax on the sale of firearms and ammunition, and another restricting paces where law-abiding, licensed citizens may carry concealed in public.
According to the Sacramento Bee, one of the measures is Senate Bill 2, authored by Sen. Anthony Portantino, a Burbank Democrat. It ratchets down on concealed carry in public.
The newspaper quoted Democrat state Attorney General Rob Bonta, who has the dubious distinction of being the defendant in a number of lawsuits challenging California gun laws. He told reporters, “You cannot be tough on crime if you are not tough on guns. We are tough on guns. We are committed to gun safety.”
But one of the nation’s most active grassroots gun rights organizations blasted the new gun laws, calling them “a giant leap backwards from protecting public safety and the rights of law-abiding citizens.”
Andrew Gottlieb, managing director of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, released a statement declaring, “Gavin Newsom continues to blame gun owners for problems he is not addressing as the state’s chief executive. Instead of cracking down on law-abiding gun owners by signing Senate Bill 2, which restricts lawful concealed carry, and Assembly Bill 2, creating an 11 percent excise tax on firearms and ammunition, he should be focusing his attention on the people committing crimes.
“It is no wonder,” he added, “why so many Californians have moved to other states, such as Texas and Florida, because they are tired of being scapegoated by a governor who is hell bent on making headlines instead of progress. His crazy policies are simply out of touch with reality.”
USA Today is reporting that revenues generated by the gun/ammunition tax will ostensibly be used to fund “several different programs in California.” The newspaper said $75 million will fund the state’s Violence Intervention and Prevention Grant Program. Another $50 million “will go towards increased security at public schools.”
“The money will fund physical security improvements, after-school programs and mental and behavioral health services for students, teachers and other employees,” the newspaper said.
The federal government already taxes firearms and ammunition sales at 10 or 11 percent, under the long-standing Pittman-Robertson Federal Aide to Wildlife Restoration program, which was adopted in the mid-1930s. The Sacramento Bee noted this new tax will double what California gun owners must pay.
California is now the only state to add such a tax.
As noted by KABC in Los Angeles, Newsom is currently pushing for a 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which would mandate gun controls on the national level. His package includes restricting gun sales to citizens over age 21, “extensive” background checks, a waiting period, and a ban on the sale of modern semiautomatic rifles. Essentially, the 28th Amendment would gut the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights. The station acknowledged his campaign is “unlikely to succeed.”
A federal lawsuit has already been filed, challenging SB2. Plaintiffs include the Second Amendment Foundation, Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners Foundation, Gun Owners of California, the California Rifle & Pistol Association and 11 private citizens. As usual, Bonta is the named defendant.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Southern Division. Plaintiffs are represented by attorneys C.D. Michel, Sean A. Brady and Konstadinos T. Moros at Michel & Associates in Long Beach, and Donald Kilmer, Law Offices of Don Kilmer, Caldwell, Idaho.
