A real-world example of mass civil action causing government to stop enforcing its interpretation of gun laws has been the hundreds of thousands more than one hundred thousand AR and AK-style rifles purchased in California by California gun owners over the past few years, despite the continued presence of CA’s increasingly irrelevant AWB on the books. The legal framework and impetus was primarily due to members of the Calguns board.
Looks like Calgunners are about to do it again, this time for handguns.
Generally you can’t buy a new handgun unless it’s on this Roster as having been approved as “safe” by the Bureau of Firearms. Not anymore! Original thread here.
As of now:
– We’ve just killed the Roster.
– We’ve just killed mag disconnects.
– We’ve just killed LCIs [Loaded Chamber Indicators].
– We’ve just killed microstamping (again).If we attack en masse, nobody will have problems
It looks like a mass purchase of stripped 1911 or other frames is being coordinated with some brave California FFLs in the next few months, probably followed by build-up parties all across the state. I’ll join in, for sure. Hats off to Calguns once again!
Here’s why I like this. I’m in one of the most restrictive states in the Union as far as infringements on our 2A rights go, and yet the dedicated efforts of a small group of wily gun nuts have not merely pushed the AW laws to the point of meaninglessness (which makes them very vulnerable to a post-incorporation Heller attack), but more importantly, have managed to broaden the number of AR- and AK-style rifle owners to the point that further restrictions are simply politically impossible at this point. Which gave us a bulwark from which to fight and push the existing laws back. And the bureaucrats in the state Bureau of Firearms have pretty much given up. Horse, barn door, and all that.
Now the same drill is about to happen with handguns, starting with handguns not on the Bureau’s sacred safety Roster. Non-Rosterable Frames, or NeRFs. “Nerf gun” is about to get a whole new meaning….
Here’s what this means for you. This and all the Calgunners’ other efforts are building the groundwork for future court cases that will determine that specific crap on California’s books right now is an unconstitutional infringement of your 2nd Amendment rights. If you want to see those cases develop and ultimately succeed, the Calguns Foundation could use your support. Have you DONATED yet?
Thank goodness. This could be a great thing for my wallet! I won’t have to rush to buy a pistol before it gets “dropped” of the list anymore.
but more importantly, have managed to broaden the number of AR- and AK-style rifle owners to the point that further restrictions are simply politically impossible at this point. Which gave us a bulwark from which to fight and push the existing laws back.
I probably don’t pay as much attention to California as I should. How did you guys accomplish this?
Yeah, do tell. Did everybody just buy the parts and assemble them?
I believe the full answer deserves a post of its own, which I shall think about tonight and try to post in the morning. I became a Calgunner only in the past couple of years, so I’m late to this game and still learning. But briefly, my understanding is:
1) dedicated non-lawyer gun nuts scour the laws and regulations trying to figure out ways around ’em that are technically still lawful (or at least arguably so);
2) the nuts develop relationships with one or more gun-friendly law firms to confirm/deny the gun nuts’ interpretations of the laws and regs;
3) the nuts, and the few heroic FFLs willing to risk their livelihoods by being the test cases, start acting as though the nuts’ interpretations are valid, by buying and selling the supposedly unlawful firearms — a whole lot of them. Over and over again. Every single one of the hundreds of thousands of sellers and purchasers is a potential defendant, and even as recently as last year some folks forked over tens of thousands of dollars in attorneys’ fees — but with the nuts backing each other up, and the friendly law firm developing well-drafted case materials that can be handed to a defendant’s attorney to get him “up to speed” on how to win his case — or handed to a prosecutor to make him understand that his slam-dunk “assault weapons” case against a gun nut is really a loser — the risk for each seller/purchaser decreases with each purchase. This is a real-life example of well-conceived, well-planned, and well-executed mass action.
As I pointed out at Kevin Baker’s place, citing Jeff Cooper, IMO the supposed 3% is probably more like 0.03%, or an upper limit of 26,000 individuals across the US who are prepared to violently resist. In California, we didn’t see one such person. But with a few individuals laying the groundwork, you did see hundreds of thousands — maybe 2-3% of the entire state population — willing to risk an awful lot for less-than-violent action. And it worked!
(As an aside in the spirit of full disclosure, I’ll note that David Codrea was apparently banned from the Calguns board for, IIRC, rude behavior, although he also had supported some of the legal cases that prominent Calgunners believe severely hurt the cause of California gun rights, so there’s some history there.)
Oh, and Popcorn, yes, in essence everybody’s been buying stripped AR and AK lower receivers (which are arguably not covered by the CA AWB) and then building them up into California-legal self-loading rifles.
The interpretation of the law’s now been pushed to the point that many many folks are lawfully building their own AR and AK pistols (a stunning achievement if you know CA law) and even successfully and intentionally registering them with the state (to get that nifty approval on state letterhead to wave at the cop who tries to arrest you for your “assault pistol”).
And now the practical gutting of the “safe handgun” list.
Pingback: Sharp as a Marble
Pingback: SayUncle » 97%
Pingback: Activism works, apparently – Call me Ahab
Pingback: Snowflakes in Hell » Blog Archive » Civil Disobedience in California
Okay, I checked with Folks In The Know and my estimate of OLLs sold was possibly high, so I lowered it.
Pingback: walls of the city
If you call someone’s bluff, in a mass demonstration, your chances of success are pretty good for success. What are they going to do, jail a million Californians?
Now, the proper method would be for a million gun owners to convene on the front lawn at the State Capitol in Sacramento with wooden ‘guns’ during legislative session. That would be fun.
Looks like they’re doing the same thing for self-defense carry rights too.
http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=135991
Yay!!
Pingback: Random Nuclear Strikes » Think Calgunners aren’t risking jail? Think again
Pingback: Random Nuclear Strikes » Seen at the Gun Store Today
Pingback: Random Nuclear Strikes » Seen at the Gun Store Today
Pingback: Random Nuclear Strikes » Breaking News in California: UPDATED