AB 962: One of More Than a Thousand Tiny Cuts

by Charlie Whitney

Touted by its author, Kevin de Leon (D. Assembly District 45), as “…the Protection Act of 2009” which “seeks to safeguard California’s communities by combating the easy accessibility to handgun ammunition that fuels gun violence and criminal activity,” Assembly Bill 962 will be state law as of July 1, 2010. It will become one of more than 200,000 existing federal, state and local firearms related laws, the vast majority of which have been enacted as purported public safety measures, but have been largely ineffective in curtailing crime because of a flawed tendency to focus on the perceived instruments of criminal activity rather than the perpetrators actually responsible for committing crimes.

For the past half century, the Democrat Party has chosen to champion the cause of gun control and in an unrelenting quest to circumvent the Second Amendment, Democrats routinely sponsor cumbersome, complicated and overly restrictive firearms regulation, always in the name of public safety, with little or no regard for the more than 99.9 percent of those Americans who rightfully possess firearms and ammunition and do so without violating the law and who should, therefore, have ready access to both.

AB 962 creates numerous obstacles and imposes unreasonable requirements with respect to the purchase of handgun ammunition. Assemblyman de Leon and cosponsor Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal (D, Assembly District 54) claim that such measures are necessary to protect the public. In reality, only law abiding firearms owners will be affected by this legislation. Criminals will simply ignore the law and procure ammunition from other individuals who have purchased it legally, acquire it out of state, or they will steal it. Criminals don’t obey the law. Everyone knows that including the afore mentioned sponsors. Existing laws already prohibit criminals and gang members from possessing firearms and ammunition. The fact of the matter is that Assembly Members de Leon and Lowenthal are little more than gun control fanatics and in what amounts to a case of classic deceit, they are responsible for producing legislation that intentionally infringes on the rights of law abiding Americans under the guise of public safety.

Second Amendment scholars on both sides of the issue have long agreed that restricting access to ammunition is one of the most effective means of rendering useless the right to possess firearms as defined under the Constitution of the United States. Key words from statements made by the architect of AB 962; “…combating…accessibility to…ammunition…” attest to the true intent of the legislation.

So, why did a so called Republican Governor sign this bill? There are only two logical explanations. Either the Governor doesn’t fully understand or appreciate the importance of the Second Amendment (most likely because he spent his formative years in European countries where firearms ownership is highly restricted) or he is merely just another Kennedy with a funny last name.

Recent decisions in the U. S. Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (the most liberal in the nation) have upheld the right of an individual to keep and bear arms. In that regard, common sense and logic dictate that firearms and ammunition go hand in hand as one is essentially useless without the other. Therefore, Constitutional protections should apply not only to the rightful purchase and possession of firearms but also to the products that enable their use.

Charlie Whitney has been in the cattle ranching business for 35 years in rural San Luis Obispo County. He is currently the chairman of the Santa Margarita Area Advisory Committee and serves on several boards and committees in the community.