Posted on 03/24/2011 4:04:18 PM PDT by majstoll
To: California State Legislature & Governor Jerry Brown We urge you to oppose both Assemblyman Anthony Portantino’s AB 144 (banning the open carry of handguns in public places) and Senator Ted Lieu’s SB 661 (expanding the California gun free school zone radii from 1,000 to 1,500 feet) for the following reasons:
1. The open carry of holstered handguns has always been legal in California - it is an old right, not a new threat. In fact, 43 states allow the increasingly common "open carry" of handguns in public, in most cases at age 18 without any permit - and only California forbids openly carried guns to be loaded in cities.
2. The US Supreme Court in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) held that the Second Amendment’s right to "bear arms" guarantees "the individual right to possess and carry weapons in case of confrontation." In 2010 the Supreme Court held in McDonald v. Chicago that states must also respect Second Amendment rights.
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11. And finally, proponents of AB 144 and SB 661 are being disingenuous when they claim they support trained and licensed gun carry – if they truly supported trained and licensed gun carry their bills would establish a state-wide “shall issue” open or concealed carry permit system like the vast majority of states provide their residents.
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We further call on the Legislature and Governor Brown to work together to greatly reform and simplify California's gun laws to be more like those of the vast majority of states which uphold the right to bear arms by allowing both open and concealed carry, and issuing any permits which might be needed to bear arms on a "shall issue" basis.
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(Excerpt) Read more at petitiononline.com ...
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