SayUncle points to an article that shows the real problem with possessory crimes; you need police state tactics to enforce them. California has cross referenced its criminal and mental health databases with its gun registration database, and is going from door to door.
While I don’t think there’s any constitutional obstacle to taking away civil liberties after due process of law, many of California’s laws, particularly it’s mental health gun prohibitions, do not have sufficient due process for me to be ok with these kinds of tactics. Either way, I think this is way too gestapo like, and it’s a prime example of why I have issues with those who want enable government to track everything we do, especially activities the political elites thumb their noses at. How many of the people California is rounding up are really legitimately dangers to society? If they are so dangerous, why are they on the streets? Are highly dangerous criminals really legally registering their firearms with the state? Pretty clearly these folks aren’t neatly falling into the category of “law abiding gun owner,” but color me skeptical they are a real menace to a safe society. I’m willing to bet this has almost no effect on crime in California, and police resources would be better spent going after truly dangerous criminals.
But it looks good on the reports – number of guns off the street, number of felons arrested. Feh.
The smog must be getting to the people who live in California. They sure do have a lot of crack pot ideas that make no sense. California is one step from a model police state (if they are not already there) and that is the way that the people of California want it.
They do not seem to understand that when the government takes away one freedom they will not stop until they take away all of them and the state tells you how you will live your life, but that might be what the people want, the government telling them what to do because they have no idea what they want or how to do anything for themselves. Besides if something does go wrong they can pass the blame on to the government. It is much easier to place the blame on someone else than to take responsibility for your own actions anyway.
Don’t I recall from an earlier post that a 72 hr hold in CA gets you a five year weapon ban?
Yep. Even the ATF doesn’t consider that CA’s hold is sufficient to ban you federally. It’s good enough for California though.