I remember being baffled years ago when I learned that you could own a gun in California, but you couldn’t leave the house with it — not with any ammo on you, at any rate.
When other states moved toward issuing concealed-carry permits to ordinary citizens who passed a background check — what’s become known as a shall-issue policy — California stuck to its old may-issue policy, where, as gun-activist Sam Wolanyk puts it, “If you haven’t made a healthy contribution into the Sheriff’s reelection fund, you’re not getting a concealed weapons permit.”
This led such gun-activists to an unusual protest tactic. They would legally “open carry” their handguns, holstered on their hips, with no ammo. I’m sure that seems terribly clever if you’re already pro-gun, but it comes across as, well, crazy to many police officers and ordinary citizens.
Anyway, California banned open carry last night:
Last night, California Governor Jerry Brown scribbled into the wee hours of the evening, signing into law more than 100 bills put onto his desk by the California legislature. This caps off a legislative session that saw a total of 464 bills signed into law, which means that the full force and power of the California government can now be used keep citizens safe from everything from school bullies, to self-service checkouts at the grocery store, to overly strenuous apprenticeships.
Among the bills signed into law is AB 144, which prohibits the ”open carry” of firearms under threat of a $1,000 fine and up to one year in jail. Reason.tv explored this very issue a few months ago, talking with the bill’s author Anthony Portantino, as well Sam Wolanyk, an Open Carry advocate and head of Responsible Citizens of California.
Sad, but many people in CA wanting a CCW permit have known it was going to go this way; however, it opens the door for many lawsuits and provides a good reason to overturn the basis of may-issue.
You could actually carry ammo, just not in the gun. Most of the UOC guys practiced with it until they could drop the empty clip and load a real clip with a couple of seconds. Which is probably why they banned it.
Unfortunately most of the guys doing this are aspies with very poor social skills (think gun nerds), and law enforcement in CA basically wants you to be a disarmed peasant who bows before them. It was a bad combo that was going to get one of the UOC guys shot one of these days.
Frankly after watching cops in CA I think we need to go back to police officers being only with clubs and require them to round up an armed civilian posse to handle bigger fish. It’s the only way to make the LEOs respectful of the public again.
Yeah, the English bobbies were doing it right. Disarm the police, arm the populace, and the perps will voluntarily disarm.
Frankly if firearms are necessary to quell the thing, what you have isn’t a crime, it’s an uprising, and you should call in the army. Arming the cops just lets them play at being soldier, something they have neither the training nor the temperament to handle.