By Don Schmitz
SB2 became law in California this month — well, sort of. Blatantly unconstitutional, it has been blocked by the courts with legal injunctions.
Said law would ban citizens with carry concealed weapons permits (CCW) from carrying their sidearm essentially anywhere except some public streets. It is rightfully viewed as a spiteful revenge bill responding to the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) ruling in the 2022 Bruen case, whereupon they ruled that ability to be armed in public was a guaranteed Second Amendment right. This followed the Heller SCOTUS ruling which affirmed that citizens have an individual right to be armed under the Second Amendment unconnected to a “well regulated militia,” and the McDonald case, which affirmed that said right was incorporated against the states.
These rulings are “stare decisis,” crystal clear, and responsible legislators and lower courts are required to respect them. Stubbornly, with this law, Gov. Gavin Newsom, the left-dominated legislature in Sacramento, and Attorney General Rob Bonta refuse to uphold their oath of office. SB2 was legally challenged in Carralero v. Bonta, whereupon judge Cormac Carney ruled, “SB2’s coverage is sweeping, repugnant to the Second Amendment, and openly defiant of the Supreme Court,” and “SB2 turns nearly every public place in California into a ‘sensitive place,’ effectively abolishing the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding and exceptionally qualified citizens to be armed and to defend themselves in public.”
Not getting the message, California appealed the decision to the Federal 9th Circuit Court, which momentarily put a stay on the injunction, which they have now lifted. SB2 is not enforceable, and certainly never will be.
Of course, the rabid anti-gun crowd will counsel you to look away from the Constitution, trumpeting “public safety.” Ignoring the devolution of our society with fatherless homes, inundation of young minds with gratuitous graphic violence, all while awash with illegal hard narcotics, the left always blames the firearms. Lazy, intellectually dishonest, and pandering. SB2 attacks citizens with a CCW, who have been vetted and trained by law enforcement. According to the Pacific Research Institute, since 2013 there have been 19,249 homicides in California, yet in the last 24 years just five homicides were committed by CCW holders.
Furthermore, multiple studies have demonstrated that firearms are used by law-abiding citizens for self-defense 1.7 to 2.5 MILLION times a year, the vast majority (82 percent) just by “brandishing” without firing a shot (Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Kleck and Gertz). The rate of defensive gun use is six times that of criminal gun use. Horrified by mass shootings? We all are. Note however that only 4 percent since 1950 have occurred in places where guns are allowed, while 96 percent occurred in “gun free zones.” Furthermore, between 41.3 percent to 63.5 percent of “active shooter events” are terminated by armed civilians (Crime Prevention Research Center). When women are armed, only 3 percent of rape attacks are completed, compared to 32 percent when she is unarmed.
When citizens are armed, crime drops, in study after study, as criminals prefer unarmed victims. Twenty-five states now have “constitutional carry” laws, meaning no permit is required to carry a handgun, including Maine, which the FBI states has the lowest crime rate in the country. Ironically, at the same time Sacramento seeks to limit responsible gun ownership, its has emptied out our prisons, radical leftist district attorneys like George Gascon declare open season on citizens by failing to enforce existing laws and prosecute criminals, while the state fails to arrest felons prohibited from owning guns. On Jan 1, 2022, there were 23,869 individuals on the prohibited owners list. The state Assembly also has tried to reduce prison terms for murder with firearms from 10-25 years to as little as three years. California coddles the criminals while penalizing the law-abiding gun owners.
The statistics are clear, but the left have for generations convinced themselves that guns are evil, and if they could just close their eyes and click their ruby slippers, all guns would disappear as would the violence. They also convinced themselves that the Constitution didn’t mean what it says, irrespective of the clear statements of the framers that self-protection from criminals or tyrannical governments is an inalienable right. That question is now settled. Resolved. Put to rights. But the left is so deeply committed to their philosophy they won’t accept it. History shows a time when Democrats in states like Alabama refused to accept the 14th Amendment and accept that black Americans should be allowed to vote, attend the same schools, or have equal protection of the laws. Those Southern Democrats passionately believed that they were protecting their culture, which they enforced with police and dogs. Similarly, California Democrats’ open commitment to thwart SCOTUS and the Second Amendment are no less repugnant. Thomas Jefferson, “A sacred respect for the constitutional law is the vital principle, the sustaining energy of a free government.” Think about it.