Confiscation is here!

SB 140 (Leno) – recently enacted – is law but it isn’t constitutional.  Say what? It’s true.  The liberal left’s recent remedy to address the supposed “20,000 known Armed Prohibited Persons (APPS)” is dysfunctional, expensive and unconstitutional.  Their plan?  THROW more money at Department of Justice for the hiring of new agents to confiscate an unknown amount of illegally possessed firearms. Ironically this same legislature helped exacerbate the APPS backlog problem by taking away critical DOJ funding in former budget deals.  Sadly, the REAL issues of a fundamentally flawed DOJ data base are going unaddressed, while law abiding citizens are opening their doors to frightening, needless raids on their homes and personal property – not to mention their constitutional rights. ALARMED CITIZENS TELL HOW THEIR HOME WAS RECENTLY RAIDED

APPS is California’s technology for matching gun registration records against people who have had their gun ownership rights restricted — temporarily or permanently. According to Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko, it is no secret that the APPS registry has at least an error rate as drastic as 40-60% in some counties.  You don’t have to be a math wiz to calculate that means at least HALF of the people on “The List” of Armed Prohibited Persons SHOULD NOT BE ON IT!

SB 140, drafted as an Urgency Clause, was signed by Governor Brown into immediate law, May 1 of this year.  SB 140 was created as an attempt to address the current Armed Prohibited Persons System  backlog, by creating an additional Special Account Fund using the surplus in the Dealer Record of Sales fund.  According to the bill, each day, the list of armed prohibitive persons grows by about 15-20 people! (Hmmm.  They seem to know within 5, how big the list is growing each day, but they just can’t divest these persons of their illegal firearms )

The Department of Justice asked for an expensive bail-out to fix the backlog their own defective system created and liberal Democrats were eager to free up cash they knew they had laying around. SB 140 will tap the enormous $24 million surplus of DROS fees that – by law – should have been returned to gun owners who have paid those fees meant solely to cover background checks.  Clearly, gun owners have been paying fees in excess of what is needed to process gun ownership registries.  Not only is the allocation of these particular surplus fees an inappropriate use for law enforcement activities  – it gets worse.   Due to a fundamentally flawed data collection system, DOJ current tactics add up to an unprecedented attack on the 2nd Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens. Check out this shocking news story, posted by our friends at the NRA, that illustrates how bad the current system is.  Thanks to the Super Majority and their creation of SB 140,  your surplus DROS fees will be used to train and send out an additional 36 agents to bang on the front doors of thousands of unsuspecting California citizens –maybe yours!

GOC’s attorneys want to remind citizens that if the police come to your door without a search warrant, you don’t have to let them in.

Who is likely to be on the APPS list?

• FELONS  – Appropriately, felons are prohibited for life from owning firearms.

• FIREARM PROHIBITIVE MISDEMEANORS – Depending on the charges, a five or ten year prohibition from firearm ownership is awarded.  When the specified prohibition is up, you may own a firearm again. Unfortunately many citizens, upon exiting the court system, were never told to surrender their firearms in the first place.  Equally as troubling is that there is no attempt made in the APPS to TAKE PEOPLE OFF the list once their prohibition period has expired. Misdemeanors make up at least one half of the list of APPS – Yet of that number – most should NOT be on it, nor do they KNOW they are on it. [Click here for a list of firearms prohibiting misdemeanors]

•  RESTRAINING ORDER RECIPIENTS through divorce or domestic disturbance cannot possess a firearm until the restraining order is lifted.  When the order is lifted, that data is not shared with DOJ and they stay on the APPS list.

• THOSE ADJUDICATED MENTALLY DEFICIENT– this ranges from any slight disorder, such as anxiety disorders or postpartum depression – to serious mental impairment and violent tendencies.  Even if you have voluntarily checked into a mental health clinic, if at any time you have been determined to be a danger to yourself or anyone else in the future, you would be placed on the APPS list. [Click here for a complete list of Firearms Prohibiting Categories]

If you have any doubts about your ability to own or possess firearms, Calgunlaws.com is an excellent resource for help and information. Michel & Associates provide links to California DOJ forms that can be used to check your eligibility status and assign someone power of attorney to transfer your firearms on your behalf if you are prohibited.

You can also submit a “Personal Firearms Eligibility Check Application” to the Department of Justice to determine if you are eligible to purchase a firearm. Click here to print the form or here to be directed to the form on the DOJ website.

 

For in indepth explanation of the APPS and how you can protect yourself, click here.

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