Two bills that would tighten regulation of firearms in the Golden State made it out of the Legislature this week.
Assembly Bill 144, authored by Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, D-Pasadena, would ban the "open carry" of unloaded handguns in public.
And under Assembly Bill 809, by Assemblyman Mike Feuer, D-West Hollywood, the state would keep records of rifle sales, as it currently does for handguns.
In recent years, A.B. 144 proved controversial among Southland "open carry" enthusiasts who made it a point of gathering at public places to display unloaded guns strapped to their hips.
Carrying loaded guns is already illegal in California.
"It only takes a few seconds to load and fire," Portantino said in a statement. "This bill is a sensible public safety protection that will make such an occurrence less likely."
The article says "Two bills that WOULD tighten regulation of firearms." I believe that means it's not law yet. In fact I read in another place how the pro-gun crowd plan to thwart these efforts by letting the bills die prior to final approval. We'll see what happens.
But what do you think of the merits of these bills? Aren't the open carry demonstrators more of a pain-in-the-neck for everybody than a serious rights advocacy group? Don't the police have a good point that they shouldn't have to waste time and resources investigating every report of a man with a gun? Don't many gun-rights folks themselves oppose the Open-carry movement?
What about keeping "records of rifle sales?" Is that such a problem? Haven't the AK-47-style rifles become more and more popular? Isn't there more of a need to control these types of weapons now as opposed to 10 years ago, say? Don't you think the old argument "registration leads to confiscation" should be put to rest? I figure the ones still using that argument either don't really believe it but keep using it anyway as an arguing point, or if they really believe that nonsense they suffer from that peculiar brand of paranoia called grandiose victimism.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
