San Francisco Muni shooter acted in self-defense, attorney says

In Cali does a “gun crime” carry a heavier sentence than a major felony like murder?

When I lived in San Diego, I always had a current copy of a book titled "How to Own a Gun and Stay Out of Jail". There was a special CA edition that continued to get bigger each year. The laws on the books are asinine. If you have a loaded magazine in your pocket (but no gun on your person) and stand on a public street, the law reads "a gun or part of a gun (magazine)" is considered a whole gun. Having rounds in it makes it a loaded gun. Having it in your pocket makes it a concealed gun. Standing on the sidewalk counts as being "in public", so the contorted view is that you are in possession of a loaded, concealed gun in public. If that magazine doesn't correspond to a gun registered in your name, there are other problems. You're in possession of an unregistered, loaded, concealed gun in a public place. Suffice to say, I could not remain in CA with the twisted spaghetti gun laws aimed at entrapping gun owners by any means possible.

I have a copy of That book
and for twenty years knew that one mistake could be a very Big Problem. Now I am a Citizen in a Gun friendly State and a County that’s considered ‘Sanctuary.’

As far as this case goes, laws are rarely undone retroactively. So a law changed today doesn’t help you violating that law a month ago. It doesn’t work that way. If I get a speeding ticket for doing 75 on a highway marked 65 mph, and the next week they raise the speed limit to 80 mph, it doesn’t retroactively reverse my speeding ticket. I was still doing 10 mph over the limit at the time.

The problem with that reasoning is that the court has ruled that a law that is declared unconstitutional was never a valid law. Of course, that won't stop the state from putting you through the system. The process itself is a punishment designed to both beat you down and bankrupt you.

I have a copy of That book and for twenty years knew that one mistake could be a very Big Problem. Now I am a Citizen in a Gun friendly State and a County that’s considered ‘Sanctuary.’

Congrats on making good choices. I moved to Idaho in Dec 2000. The state policies on the 2nd amendment are fine. The internal gun rights orgs are focused on keeping the feds from imposing outrageous infringements.

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