RTP: State ag bill becomes anti-gun bill

The Redding Tea Party is labeling a bill in the Legislature as "the worst gun confiscation bill in the last 20 years."

From the RTP:

Senator Leland Yee of San Francisco now trying to ban and confiscate more so-called "assault weapons."

Originally, Senate Bill 249 was a quiet agriculture bill that passed in the California Senate back in May. With sneaky back-door tactics, Senator Yee turned the bill into a gun ban monster.

SB 249, as amended, would make a small but profound change to the definition of what constitutes a detachable magazine for a semiautomatic firearm. By doing so, hundreds of thousands of semi-automatic rifles, which were legally sold in California over the last decade, would become illegal on July 1, 2013.

The existing definition of detachable magazine was used by Governor Brown's administration for the four years he served as Attorney General.

Senator Yee's bill has no provisions to allow permitting, licensing or reimbursement for the loss of valuable property. Worse yet, the bill doesn't require a public notice program to advise owners of this change in state law.

Thousands of owners could be arrested for inadvertent violations. If you own an affected firearm, your only choices would be to destroy it, surrender it to a law enforcement agency, sell it out of state or have it confiscated at the time of your arrest! Which option would you prefer?

State Sen. Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale, opposes the bill.