Free Republic

Democratic lawmakers in California are moving swiftly to pass a package of legislation that would restrict state and local law enforcement, including school police and security departments, from using their own resources to aid federal authorities in immigration enforcement.

SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) – The state of California is studying ways to suspend financial transfers to Washington after the Trump administration threatened to withhold federal money from sanctuary cities, KPIX 5 has learned. “California could very well become an organized non-payer,” said Willie Brown, Jr, a former speaker of the state Assembly in an interview recorded Friday for KPIX 5’s Sunday morning news. “They could recommend non-compliance with the federal tax code.”

Earlier this year, on May 16th,  a three judge panel on the Ninth Circuit ruled that Alameda County in California could not impose a zoning ordinance on gun stores that was more strict than for other businesses.  In the case, Teixeira v. County of Alameda, the ordinance restricted gun stores from locating anywhere withing 500 feet of a residentially zoned district.  From the ruling(pdf): Reversing the dismissal of plaintiffs’ Second Amendment claims, the panel held that the County had offered nothing to undermine the panel’s conclusion that the right to purchase and to sell firearms is part and parcel...

Violent crime increased in Los Angeles for the third straight year as police tried to stem a rash of homicides and gang-related shootings while dealing with a growing homeless population. With more than 290 people killed in the city this year, homicides also rose for the third year in a row. Still, the city remains far safer than a decade ago, when 480 people were killed and there were 46% more robberies than this year. According to statistics from the Los Angeles Police Department, robberies were up by 13%, aggravated assaults were up by 10% and rapes were down by...

A higher minimum wage, a ban on using "Redskins" as the name of a school team or mascot, and new restrictions on assault weapons are among the latest California laws taking effect with the new year:

In a recent conversation with Breitbart News, Gun Owners of California’s (GOC) Sam Paredes told us to be ready for an all-out ban on semi-automatic long guns in California’s coming legislative session. Paredes is the executive director of GOC, and he suggested the “assault weapons” ban and the “bullet button” ban have both been part of an incremental move toward banning all semi-automatic rifles, whether “assault” style or not.

Being on the hook is not going to be pretty when interest rates are raised back up, and debts come due. At a personal level, it will mean more stress and juggling to make ends meet. For the larger economy, it will mean cities and states unable to meet obligations or balance their budgets – ending in bankruptcy, and bailouts. Meanwhile, millions of people are relying on that money to keep coming in order to survive. Something is going to go very wrong. Relying upon government to function and send you money is not a secure plan. The mathematics are...

Image from newgeography.com In an opinion piece at the Los Angeles Times, the Times writes that national reciprocity for concealed carry permits would be bad.  The editorial is from the editorial board, so it reflects the Times official policy desires.  The problem is that the Times cannot come up with any good reason for their opinion, other than the big bad federal government should not force poor little California to do something the California government (largely controlled by the LA Times and other "progressive" media") does not want them to do. In this case, that something is to respect...

At 1:55 a.m., on Monday, 28 November, at a 7-11 convenience store in Fresno, California, an armed and alert clerk fired one shot to stop an attempted armed robbery. Link to  video It has been reported that the suspects were armed with an "assault rifle". From the daily mail.co.uk: Two robbery suspects who burst into a California convenience store were left running for their lives after a store clerk turned the tables on them and fired back. Surveillance footage from inside a 7-Eleven store in Fresno shows the moment a man brandishing a rifle, followed by a woman, went...

One of the many, many consequences of Donald Trump’s victory Tuesday night is that the nation will have to wait at least four more years to see a woman elected president. Hillary Clinton’s loss came as a devastating blow to many people across the country eager to see a woman take office. But among Tuesday’s winners is California’s new Democratic senator-elect, Kamala Harris, who may be the next best hope for shattering that glass ceiling.

A group of left-wing Californians, frustrated with the recent election of Donald J. Trump as the 45th President of the United States, has filed an application to put a secession referendum — “Calexit” — on the 2018 ballot. The East Bay Times reports that the group, called Yes California, intends to circumvent the U.S. Congress: A “yes” vote would trigger a special election the following March in which residents would decide if “California should become a free, sovereign and independent country.” Another “yes” vote would require the governor of the newly minted “Republic of California” to apply to the United...

In California, Proposition 63, the ban on gun magazines, requiring licenses to purchase ammunition, requiring reporting any change in gun ownership, has passed by an enormous margin, 63% to 37%.  The measure had millions spent to get it passed.  The gun haters outspent Second Amendment supporters over five to one. From ballotpedia.org:Yes on Prop 63 outraised opponents five to one. As of November 3, 2016, supporters received $4.54 million, while opposing committees raised $868,265. The California Democratic Party, a supporter of Proposition 63, had contributed over $1 million to the campaign. The National Rifle Association was against the initiative...

James Otis arrived at the Hollywood Walk of Fame before the sun broke over the horizon Wednesday morning with his tools of choice: a sledgehammer and a pick. Then, wearing a hard hat and construction vest, he got to work laying waste of Donald Trump’s star.

The victim's former boyfriend has been arrested in the brutal murder, police say. Authorities say a suspect in the brutal murder of a Richmond mother 33 years ago is finally behind bars. Single mother Marsha Carter was stabbed to death inside her bedroom while her four boys were home, with one of them hiding under a bed during the attack, according to Richmond police. "The kids went into the mom's room and they didn't find mom there," Richmond Police Lt. Felix Tran said. "All they find is blood on mom's bed. Of course as children they don't know what to...

As its economy started to recover in 2010, progressives began to hail California as a kind of Scandinavia on the Pacific — a place where liberal programs also produce prosperity. The state’s recovery has won plaudits from such respected figures as The American Prospect’s Harold Meyerson and the New York Times’ Paul Krugman. Gov. Jerry Brown, in Bill Maher’s assessment, “took a broken state and fixed it.” There’s a political lesson being injected here, as well, as blue organs like The New Yorker describe California as doing far better economically than nasty red-state Texas. But if you take a look...

A California gun shop sees sales of firearms that use bullet buttons to swap magazines sky rocket as new gun laws that will ban those types of weapons looms. Christopher Lapinski, the operations manager at Last Stand Readiness & Tactical in Sacramento, told Fox 40 Sacramento that he’s seeing more people coming in to buy the gun before the law takes effect. "The whole anti-gun movement, taking guns from citizens, literally has everyone and their grandmother buying firearms before they can't get them anymore because they want to be able to be protected," Lapinski said.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick sat during the national anthem in each of the team's three preseason games and plans to continue to do so until he sees real change when it comes to racial oppression in the United States. "Yes, I'll continue to sit," Kaepernick said. "I'm going to continue to stand with the people that are being oppressed. To me this is something that has to change. When there's significant change and I feel like that flag represents what it's supposed to represent, this country is representing people the way that it's supposed...

Some justice has been served in the senseless killing of Melquiesha "Mel" Warren, a 23-year-old woman shot dead in a SoMa parking lot in 2013 over a fender bender, following a night in which she'd been celebrating her wife's birthday with friends. 26-year-old Michael Sione Green of San Mateo was found guilty Thursday on counts of murder, attempted murder, firing at a motor vehicle, assault, being a felon in possession of a firearm, carrying a concealed firearm, and carrying a loaded firearm, according to the DA's office in a release. District Attorney George Gascon says, "The jury sent a clear...

A federal appeals court this week sided with California Attorney General Kamala Harris and declined to rehear a combined case that the Second Amendment protects the right to carry a firearm for self-defense in public.

Gun sales in California are on pace to break records — perhaps even to reach 1 million sales by the end of calendar year 2016, according to Southern California Public Radio station KPCC. There were 554,203 guns sold “through late July,” which puts last year’s annual sales figure of approximately 890,000 well within reach.