California Ammo Restrictions Spark Ammo Rush and Legal Challenge
Russ Chastain 06.10.19
When will California end the madness? On July 1, 2019, things will become much more difficult for hunters and shooters in the place once referred to by Billy Bob Thornton as “the late great golden state.”
A recent post at guns.com first notes that as of the July 1 opening of California’s rabbit season it will be illegal to hunt wildlife with any ammunition containing lead anywhere in the state. Restrictions began squashing the use of lead bullets and shot in 2013, but this will bring the first ban on all lead ammo. Which is stupid, but hey — it’s the left coast.
Worse than that — much worse — is the voter-approved Prop. 63. Proposition 63 requires anyone and everyone buying ammunition in California to submit to a background check before they can complete the purchase. It also creates “ammo registration” by collecting information about ammo purchasers.
For gun owners already registered in California’s state database to their current valid driver’s license, this means a $1 processing fee and a computerized instant check.
For those who don’t currently have a gun registered, this means a $19 DROS fee and a wait that can stretch as much as two weeks before the check can be approved.
Ammo vendors must collect information from buyers such as name, date of birth and current address, which in turn they must submit to state officials to be used for law enforcement purposes.
As you can imagine, many gun owners are buying up ammunition in large amounts as fast as they can so they can avoid having to pay more money and submit to yet another invasion of privacy when they need to buy groceries to feed their firearms.
This has gun owners reportedly clogging local shops to stock up before the new rules and fees kick in.
Mike Hein of Ade’s Gun Shop in Orange told the LA Times that sales in recent months have jumped and many customers are buying in bulk. ‘People are starting to stock up. We stocked up on ammunition,’ he said. ‘Most people know about the deadline. They are running scared. They are pissed off.’
Kim Rhode is Fighting Prop.63
Record-setting competition shotgun shooter Kim Rhode is a California resident who is named as the first plaintiff in a legal challenge against Prop. 63.
The 31-page lawsuit argues Prop 63, which Second Amendment advocates characterized as ‘Gunmageddon,’ outlaws direct mail order ammunition sales, puts all transfers of ammo under a ‘burdensome registration scheme,’ imposes costly fees and price increases on bullet sales and mires would-be vendors in piles of Sacramento red tape. As such, it not only violates the Dormant Commerce Clause by discriminating against interstate commerce but also tramples on the Constitutional right to keep and bear arms. (guns.com)
Rhode posted the following photo of a notice at a California Walmart store informing customers they would not be able to sell them ammunition AT ALL during the first week of July.
This was on #Walmart’s counter top #Prop63 is going into effect July 1st hopefully we can stop this non-sense with my court case! #NoAgainstProp63 #2ndAmendment @CRPAnews @NRA @NRATV @Beretta_USA @winchester @USAShooting @redlandsshootng @TeamUSA @ISSF_Shooting @NSSF pic.twitter.com/99n1a2v2eE
— Kim Rhode (@KimRhode) June 4, 2019
We should be stunned that such a thing can exist in our nation, but as a population we have been conditioned to accept every nibble that will slowly and surely consume all of our freedoms.
I say we need to end the madness and deregulate all guns, ammunition, and firearms accessories everywhere across the USA. Do you agree?
