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Gov. Davis Ponders Gun Licensing for Californians
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Gov. Davis Ponders Gun Licensing for CaliforniansBy Chris RizoCNSNews.com CorrespondentOctober 09, 2001(CNSNews.com) - California could soon join the growing number of states that require safety licenses for handgun owners, but gun rights activists have launched an intense lobbying campaign to get Democratic Gov. Gray Davis to quash the proposal.Although Davis says he is opposed to signing new gun bills until firearm restrictions recently enacted are given a chance to work, he is looking carefully at two gun licensing bills, the governor's spokesman, Steve Maviglio, said last week."We are not taking any chances on this one," said Marianne Giroux of Sacramento. She is organizing a statewide telephone petition drive, calling for Davis' veto of the gun licensing legislation. "And if he doesn't heed our advice, then we will find somebody else come election time who will listen."If Davis signs the controversial pair of bills, prospective handgun buyers will need to pass a written test on firearm safety and provide gun dealers proof of California residency before getting the mandatory handgun safety certificate.Kathryn Ballou, of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, fears if the governor signs the two bills sponsored by state Sen. Jack Scott and Assemblyman Kevin Shelley, other states may follow with their own stricter gun laws."As California goes, so does the rest of the union," she said. "And the legislators know this." While Scott, a Southern California Democrat, says he only wants to prevent gun accidents like the one that killed his son Adam eight years ago, gun rights advocates say the licensing bills are the Democratic-controlled legislature's attempt to clamp down on handgun owners."Once again, some well-meaning, but misguided people are attempting to erode the Second Amendment," Ballou added. "Not one Californian is going to be protected by these bills. Instead, they grow government and restrict our freedom."Twelve states already have similar gun-licensing laws on their books, including New York, Massachusetts, Hawaii, and Illinois. Davis killed a similar bill introduced by Scott last year.The California Rifle and Pistol Association, a prominent voice in the gun rights debate, says gun licensing measures would not be necessary if law enforcement agencies enforced gun laws already on the books. "This bill is not about preventing gun accidents, It is about making it as difficult as possible to have a gun," said association spokesman Chuck Michel.Although gun-related injuries and deaths declined from 1993 to 1998, firearms still remain the second-leading cause of injury-related death in the United States, according to the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Scott said the numbers still constitute a public health epidemic. "It's just common sense that if we require people to have a license to drive a car that we also require gun owners to also have a license," he said.The debate over gun control has historically divided Democrats from Republicans as well as urban and rural Americans, but Charlie Blek told a Senate public safety panel that gun control should not be a partisan issue."I am a life-long Republican, and unfortunately I am also the parent of a gun violence victim," he said. "What we are really discussing here is the sanctity of human life and that should rise above partisan politics." But, not all Democrats support the call to license gun owners. Assemblyman Roderick Wright said the $45 safety-licensing fee could drive poor people to buy firearms on the black market to avoid the "high costs and administrative hurdles" the bills would impose."This is bigotry, but it's OK because it is gun control," the South Central Los Angeles Democrat said.Although the bills would not require current gun owners to obtain a safety license to keep their firearms, gun buyers would need a permit for purchases made after Jan. 2003.The governor has until Oct. 14 to sign or veto the bills. http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200110/NAT20011009b.html
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