Sixteen California Counties Begin Campaign to Protect the Right to Keep and Bear Arms

The Alliance for Civil Rights ^

[William Tell]

A California Initiative Constitutional Amendment has been proposed by the Alliance for Civil Rights. Title and Summary will soon be approved by the state and the statutory period of 150 days for gathering signatures will begin.

Once the needed 850,000 signatures have been gathered, the measure will be put on the ballot in a general, state-wide election, permitting a majority of Californians to dictate to the legislature, the governor, and the courts that the right of the people to keep and bear arms in California shall not be infringed. The wording of the proposed amendment has been carefully crafted to inform the courts of the fundamental nature of the protected right.

Read more concerning the proposition at the official web site of The Alliance for Civil Rights, www.tacr.us.

The proposition reads as follows:

The inalienable right to defend life and liberty as set forth in Article I, Section 1 of the California Constitution includes the fundamental right of each person to keep and bear arms for the defense of self, family and home. This right shall not be infringed.

1. All State government action regulating the right of law-abiding persons to acquire and possess arms for the defense of self, family and home shall be subject to strict scrutiny, in the same respect as the freedoms of speech and of the press. All county, city and local government action on this subject is preempted by state law and this Amendment.

2. This Amendment does not limit the State from regulating the acquisition and possession of arms by: felons, minors, the mentally incompetent, and any person subject to restraining orders based upon their own violent conduct.

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The Alliance for Civil Rights         1261 Lincoln Avenue          San Jose, CA         95125-3030         24 hour message line  (408) 496-9346

[William Tell]

As indicated in yellow on the map below, activities have begun in sixteen California counties to get the word out regarding the upcoming petition drive and to recruit volunteers to gather signatures. Those sixteen counties contain 75% of the California population.

Thirty volunteers are listed on the unofficial web site for organizing volunteers, rkba.members.sonic.net. More are needed in every county to gather the required signatures. The map indicates in red and gray the counties where volunteers have yet to be identified.

Especially critical are the more populous counties of San Francisco, Contra Costa, Fresno, Ventura, and Riverside. Volunteers are requested to contact Dave at rkba@sonic.net to be added to the list. Only then can coordinated county level activities begin.

Volunteer if you can, no matter how limited your time or abilites, or pass the word to people you know in the critical counties. We cannot have too many volunteers.

If volunteers are already listed for your county, contact them now to offer whatever help you can.

[strategofr]

"on the ballot in a general, state-wide election, permitting a majority of Californians to dictate to the legislature, the governor, and the courts that the right of the people to keep and bear arms in California shall not be infringed."

Cool. I lived in CA for awhile. I envy you your ballot initiative system. In PA, only the legislature can put something on the ballot!

[metmom]

I really hate politics and law cause often I just don't get it; like this. Doesn't THE Constitution, the one that established this country, guarantee the right to keep and bear arms in the second amendment? How then can any state or city or other form of local government prohibit it? I understand that the rights not specifically delegated to the federal government go to the states but I just don't understand this.

[William Tell]

strategofr said: "Cool. I lived in CA for awhile. I envy you your ballot initiative system."

It's powerful but cannot by itself make up for the lack of an explicit protection for the right to keep and bear arms. Too bad the Ninth Circus Court of Appeals seems hung up on the discredited "collective rights" nonsense with respect to the Second Amendment.

You don't perhaps have some pro-gun friends that you left behind who would be eager to hear about this campaign, do you? If so, spread the word. Even if they don't wish to volunteer, they may be able to steer others to the information. Thanks.

[strategofr]

"some pro-gun friends that you left behind?"

Sorry. I was just starting to emerge from a coma in those days, I mean, from being a Liberal, which I was born into. Didn't know gun folks.

[William Tell]

metmom said: "How then can any state or city or other form of local government prohibit it? "

Well, it's a long story.

The first part of the problem is that there is a claim that the Bill of Rights, which includes the Second Amendment, is only a bar to federal infringement.

The Supreme Court has never ruled, as they should, that the Fourteenth Amendment extends immunity from infringement to include an immunity from any state making or enforcing laws infringing the right.

The second major problem is that the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is particularly backward in that it misinterprets the case US v. Miller. In this key case, the US Supreme Court ruled that only weapons useful to a Militia are protected from infringement. That is not what the Second Amendment says, but the Supreme Court was trying to accommodate disarmament.

The Ninth Circuit has ruled that US v. Miller means that only Militias are protected from infringement. The right of the PEOPLE to keep and bear arms is evidently nonexistent.

That means that two key decisions are required to protect California citizens from infringement. The Ninth Circuit must reverse itself or be reversed by the US Supreme Court with respect to the "collective rights" nonsense. And the US Supreme Court must "incorporate" the Second Amendment by recognizing that the Fourteenth Amendment means what it says.

The alternative is the Initiative campaign to put the right to keep and bear arms on the California Constitution.

Neither alternative is going to happen overnight or without considerable work.

[metmom]

OK that helps a lot. What I see happening if governments continue to try to infringe on gunowners rights is that it will just go underground. While some communities may be able to confiscate registered guns, if the guns aren't registered, they will be hidden and not confiscated. All this will do is create a black market for guns. They may make gun ownership illegal but they won't get rid of guns. Prohibition and the war on drugs never stopped what they were supposed to either.

[DakotaGator]

Doesn't THE Constitution, the one that established this country, guarantee the right to keep and bear arms in the second amendment?

You are exactly correct. All laws infringing on the "The People's" right to keep and bear arms are unconstitutional. The reason these laws are on the books is that "The People" have allowed it to happen.

The right to free speech and the right to keep and bear arms are specified in the Constitution to prevent this government reduction of our freedom. But rights not exercised are rights lost.

[El Gato]

And the US Supreme Court must "incorporate" the Second Amendment by recognizing that the Fourteenth Amendment means what it says.

That would not be "incorporation" in the classic sense. The Court long ago ruled that the "privileges and immunities" clause of the 14th basically doesn't extend any of the bill of rights to the states. That was clearly a wrong decision, and it was even based partly on pre 14th amendment rulings that also denied the applicability of the BoR to the states. Recognizing that they'd bit the Big One, the court later used the "due process" clause of the 14th to incorporate the protections of some of the Bill of Rights to the states. The ones they, the Court, approved of that is.

The Court likes to maintain the fiction that they never over rule themselves, but of course they do it all the time. Stare decisis. isn't really.

[dersepp]

Looks like Mr. Don Kilmer has taken up this project. If you are a 2nd Amendment adherent, you would recognize him from some NRA and other videos documenting the loss of firearms in both Britain and Australia.

Go Don, Go!

[Carry_Okie]

It would really help to arm volunteers with information by which to educate voters on the benefits of RKBA. Is there any plan to mass produce Dr. Lott's works on CD or set up a low-priced download?

[William Tell]

Carry_Okie said: "Is there any plan to mass produce Dr. Lott's works on CD or set up a low-priced download?"

This campaign is on the extremes of "grass roots" and the phrase "under funded" overstates the case. The intitial focus is to get the proposition on the ballot. Then there will be opportunities for organizations to declare the effort "credible" and add their support.

Hurricane Katrina has done much to illustrate just how dangerous it can be to depend on the government for the security of one's family. The riots in France may provide another illustration.

I see from your FR personal page that you are in Santa Cruz county. There are many rural areas in the county and we don't yet have a volunteer listed for that County. If you know of possible candidates, print out the "Wanted Alive" recruiting poster and see if you can get a copy to them. Also, if you know of anyone in the five critical counties (San Francisco, Contra Costa, Fresno, Ventura, and Riverside ) get the word to them that we need their help.

My experience in asking help from rural feed stores is now 4 for 5. One store wasn't willing to get involved. The other 4 treated my like a favorite cousin who had just won the lottery. The poster/flyers I brought in were leaving the store in the hands of customers before I left.

I want potential volunteers to realize that there should be no concern because they can't do everything. All that is being asked is that they do something.

[Carry_Okie]

Got it. The feed store is a good idea.

Ours will soon be covered.

[William Tell]

Carry_Okie said: "The feed store is a good idea. Ours will soon be covered."

That's great. If everybody reading this thread does the same, the flyers will be posted, the posters will be flying, and the volunteers will be filling the INBOX at rkba@sonic.net.

[William Tell]

Since posting, the number of volunteers has risen to 35, but we are still missing volunteers in the five critical counties.

About 75% of Californians live in the sixteen counties with volunteers. About half of the remaining population live in the five critical counties. We really can't think about a successful campaign without getting petitions into those counties.

If you know people in those counties, please give them a call. If they can print some of the "Wanted Alive" recruiting posters ( available at rkba.members.sonic.net ) and deliver them to just one gun business that could get the ball rolling in those counties.

Fresno County? Anybody know any pro-gun Freepers living in Fresno County?

[clamper1797]

I just volunteered for Conta Costa county

[Carry_Okie]

Fresno County? Anybody know any pro-gun Freepers living in Fresno County?

Um, does Jim Robinson count?

[A CA Guy]

The other problem with CA is we can have out 9th circuit (made up of liberal judges) who knock down the public result of a vote all the time.
I think such an amendment will pass IMO.
The interviews from the Rodney King trial by some people made almost all of the suburbs arm themselves to the teeth in defense of their homes.

I hadn't heard of this before. I'll download the petition for signing and get signatures when they are at that stage.

[Porterville]

With this umpcoming war, I think we won't have any problems with our right to bear arms.

[paul51]

I think there may be some moles on the list. I sent an email to the person heading up my county awhile back asking how I can help and never got a response.