STATE CAPITOL SOS! How the Legislature’s Shut Down Impacts the 2nd Amendment
The California Legislature is away on their summer recess but that doesn’t mean some shifty shenanigans aren’t taking place. They recently used the Governor’s budget as a brazen means to do some 2nd Amendment damage, and now we are facing some new abnormal challenges.
Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon issued a statement this week that the Assembly is now “closed until further notice” following six confirmed COVID-19 cases among lawmakers and employees (they previously recessed from March 20 until May 4 to prevent the spread of the virus). The Senate may follow suit. Both were supposed to resume legislative hearings on Monday, July 13 in order to hear roughly 700 bills, before they adjourn for the year on August 31.
SO WHY IS THIS A BAD THING? Aren’t we better off when they are gone?
- The devil is in the details. Will the shortened schedule – and that’s “if” they actually return to finish out the session, inhibit GOC’s – and the public’s ability to weigh in on anti-gun bills? Will we have adequate notice on hearing dates, amendments, etc? Last week the Speaker stated that remote testimony would no longer be an option. The uproar was likely the reason he reversed this decision. Every day, it’s something new.
IS NEWSOM SEIZING POWER IN THE LEGISLATURE’S ABSENCE?
- Usually, things are better when the Legislature leaves town. But an extended leave will defer power to the Governor. Assemblyman Kevin Kiley (R) warns that the current (and indefinite) hiatus has given Newsom “more unilateral power.”
- Assemblyman James Gallagher (R) charged that in his latest news briefing, the Governor argued “that not only can he exercise legislative powers, but that he doesn’t even really need to prove evidence to the judiciary.”
This is frightening stuff – things are bad enough without the Governor taking over. GOC is in the trenches battling against any unchecked power, whether from Newsom or any other entity that is taking advantage of COVID-19. We will continue our fight against any pandemic related executive orders that step on our 2nd Amendment rights – including those directives to close gun stores or impede anyone’s ability to buy a gun. With “defund the police” efforts growing across the nation, we are our own first line of defense.
WILL YOU HELP US FIGHT THESE CURRENT BATTLES?