California expanding
ban on ‘assault weapons’
Register, sell, disable
or remove guns from
state by Dec.31

By Jon E. Dougherty
? 2000 WorldNetDaily.com

Unless the state’s Supreme Court says otherwise,
California is set to increase the number of firearms banned
as “assault weapons” at the end of the month.

Effective July 29,
barring any official
action from the courts,
“copycat/clone ‘series’
AK and AR-15 assault
weapons cannot be
offered for sale, sold,
manufactured or
imported into
California,” said a state
Department of Justice
information bulletin obtained by WorldNetDaily.
“Additionally, such assault weapons possessed prior to July
29, 2000, must be registered on or before December 31,
2000.”

The July 17 bulletin said state Justice officials were
referring to a state Supreme Court case, Kasler v.
Lockyer, “regarding the Roberti-Roos Assault Weapons
Control Act,” or AWCA, which was passed in 1989. The
state’s high court on June 29 “issued the long awaited
decision” reversing an earlier appeals court ruling which
had determined that parts of the 1989 law were
unconstitutional.

“In Kasler, the California Supreme Court” reversed the
lower court’s ruling, said the bulletin, and “upheld the
constitutionality of the AWCA in its entirety.”

The law was passed after a Jan. 17, 1989, schoolyard
shooting in Stockton, Ca., during which a 26-year-old
drifter named Patrick Purdy opened fire on 450 students
with a Chinese-made semi-automatic AK-47 rifle loaded
with 75 rounds. He killed five children and wounded 30
others, plus a teacher.

In the emotionally charged aftermath of the tragedy, and
the resulting frenzy to “do something” legislatively to
prevent a repeat of the incident, the label “assault weapon”
— a military term defined as a firearm capable of firing in
both semi- automatic and fully-automatic mode — was
co-opted by those favoring gun control. They succeeded,
with the help of the news media, in applying, albeit
inaccurately, the intimidating term “assault weapon” to
semi-automatic firearms, especially those with
large-capacity magazines, pistol grips and other such
options. California’s ban on so-called “assault weapons” set
the stage for the national legislation that followed.

According to California state law, the attorney general
was given the authority under the AWCA to “add-on
additional weapons which are similar to those” already
listed as, and defined in, state statutes as “assault
weapons.” California Penal Codes state that “all AK series
and AR-15 series weapons are controlled assault weapons
even if they are ‘older models that are only variations, with
minor differences, regardless of manufacturer,’” the
bulletin said.

During the Kasler case, which began in 1992, “Attorney
General Dan Lungren, and later Attorney General Bill
Lockyer, did not use the add-on provision to regulate other
weapons, nor did the Department of Justice identify the
‘series’ weapons listed in the” state Penal Codes.
Consequently, the bulletin said, “series weapons continued
to be manufactured [and] imported” into the state, and
were then “sold, purchased or possessed within California
without regard to” the state statutes.

Last year, the Department of Justice bulletin said, the state
legislature “expanded the assault weapons definition” by
adding additional penal codes, “which identify assault
weapons by characteristics.” The state’s high court
decision, the department said, “has reaffirmed the attorney
general’s authority to identify assault weapons with both
the add-on provisions” of law “and identify the ‘series’ AK
and AR-15 assault weapons” currently listed in state penal
codes.

“Peace officers owning personal assault weapons are not
exempt from these requirements,” the statement said.

According to the statement, individuals who currently own
lawful AK and AR-15 series weapons must do one of the
following:

Lawfully possess the “series” “assault weapon” on
or before July 28, 2000, and register it on or before
Dec. 31, 2000; or

Lawfully possess the “series” “assault weapon” on
or before July 28, 2000, and either sell or transfer
the firearm via the “Dealer Record of Sale process”
on or before the same date; or

Render the weapon permanently inoperable, sell the
weapon to a licensed dealer or remove the weapon
from California.

The Department of Justice published a list of affected
weapons that must be registered by the Dec. 31 deadline.
Included are firearms made by Kalishnikov USA,
American Arms, Colt’s, Armalite and Bushmaster, among
others.

The Justice statement was issued to all state law
enforcement agencies, firearms dealers and
manufacturers, state Superior Court judges and state
district attorneys.

In a meeting with California NRA members July 13,
Department of Justice Firearms Division representatives
explained the impact and implications of the new
provisions to gun owners.

“A list of what is or is not an Assault Weapon under [the
California Penal Code] will not be compiled by the
Firearms Division,” Randy Rossi, Director of the California
Department of Justice Firearms Division, told the Ventura
County East NRA Members’ Council.

“Because we can’t see what characteristics you may have
on your weapon, and because the law allows you to take
on and take off those characteristics, we won’t be able to
provide you with a listing of those weapons,” he said, as
quoted by the California NRA Organization. “We can’t tell
if you put on a conspicuously-protruding pistol-grip or
whether it’s a banana. We just can’t tell that from over the
telephone.”

Rossi emphasized that the Firearms Division is available to
answer questions regarding implementation of the various
laws by the Firearms Division, CalNRA.org said.
However, “since they do not make the laws they cannot
answer questions regarding the formulation of firearms
law, which is the domain of the California Legislature,” the
report said.

“The California Department of Justice Firearms Division is
following the same constitutional interpretation as the
Federal government regarding the Second Amendment,”
wrote CalNRA.org columnist Jay J. Hector. “A United
States Attorney at the Emerson appellate court hearing in
Louisiana stated the official position of the United States
Government is that the Second Amendment of the United
States Constitution only applies to militias, and not to the
people of the United States as individuals.”

CalNRA.org said Deputy Attorney General Tim Rieger
made similar distinctions during the meeting.

“Since 1937, the Second Amendment, as you all know, in
the United States Supreme Court case Miller, it’s been
interpreted to say, let’s be fair, that the right to keep and
bear arms, is not personal, but instead lies with the militias
of the states,” Rieger reportedly said. “The bottom line is,
Miller says that, and all cases except Emerson in the
Texas District Court, have basically followed suit.”