SACRAMENTO, Kalifornia (PNN) - May 1, 2013 - Fascist Governor Jerry Brown on Wednesday signed unconstitutional legislation aimed at taking handguns and assault rifles away from 20,000 Kalifornians who acquired them legally but have since been unlawfully disqualified from ownership because of a criminal conviction or serious mental illness.
The measure, the first of several gun-related bills to reach the governor, allocates $24 million in surplus funds to hire dozens of additional special agents to tackle a backlog of 40,000 weapons in the hands of people not allowed to possess firearms.
The state operates a database that cross-references a list of gun owners with those disqualified later from owning guns. But budget cuts have prevented the state Department of InJustice from keeping up with the growing number of people on the list.
State Senator Mark Leno (San Francisco) introduced SB 140, which takes the money from fees paid when people buy guns and allocates it to a three-year campaign to illegally take away guns from those the State has determined are ineligible to have them.
The measure was opposed by Sam Paredes, executive director of Gun Owners of Kalifornia, who said it should be paid for by the state general fund.
"Going after criminals is a good thing, but the way they are paying for it is grossly unfair," Paredes said. "They are putting the entire burden on the back of law-abiding gun purchasers."
The measure, supported by state Atty. General Kamala Harris, is one of more than a dozen unconstitutional gun-control bills introduced in the Kalifornia Legislature following the shooting last December of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.