by Jack
Up for trying a little experiment in democracy? I have this crazy idea that if we were to submit a fairly reasonable piece of legislation to our state representative we might have a chance of getting it passed into law. Its a long shot of course, but if it’s the right thing to do, why not give it a try?
Here’s an idea for our first time experiment: CA should exempt certain pre-qualified people from the tedious long form background check when buying a firearm.
Harold came up with the idea first and then a lot of us had something to say about it until we reached agreement. So the question is, don’t you think we should exempt certain folks as a matter of fairness and common sense? I say that realizing that the words “fairness and common sense” are rarely associated with government, but maybe we should expect to be using them more often?
The people we generally thought should be exempt are (1) any person residing in the State of California that held a valid State of California concealed carry licensed or (2) any California law enforcement officer, active or retired, authorized to carry a firearm pursuant to California law. Simple.
This is not to say the 10 day waiting period is waived, no not at all! We might want to keep that part in place, if only to facilitate the quick check ID verification through DOJ. I know, it only takes about 30 seconds to do the check, but the less we ask for the more chance it has of passing.
This amendment to the current law would cut down on a lot of needless paperwork and that would save time and taxpayer money. It would also bring CA in line many other States. As it stands now, if you buy a firearm in CA, even as a police officer or a citizen with a valid CCW permit, you have to go through all the paperwork and pony up $85. If you come back in two weeks and buy again, you still have to pay for another background check and so it goes. Every time you buy a firearm or
transfer a firearm, you have to do the whole costly paperwork process over again and this is non-sense. So, as they say, “There oughta be a law!” So why not?
We could take this idea, put it into legal form and submit it to our Assemblyman or Senator. Awaiting your response.
PS If this highly unusual idea gets introduced on the floor, that’s a fantastic start! Sure, it would be nice if it passed, but just getting it considered would be a monumental milestone for the people. This is what lobbyists do all the time and who should rate more, us or lobbyists?